HOCKEY
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FROM the moment the Saints began their 2014 pre-season training, their goal was to earn a home grand final then win the men’s Premier League Hockey crown in front of their home crowd.
On Saturday they ticked one of those boxes as they beat Lithgow Panthers 2-1 in a tense major semi-final at the Cooke Hockey Complex.
Given it was a battle of two sides who are regulars in Premier League Hockey finals series’ and have the best attacking lineups in the competition, it was odd to see the first half come and go without a goal being scored.
But the first 15 minutes of the second stanza provided three goals and with two of those belonging to the Saints, they earned a home grand final.
“Finals are completely different to regular Saturdays, it comes down to whoever wants it more on the day,” Pat’s coach Jaden Ekert said.
“It is not individual brilliance or teams doing the regular stuff, it is who wanted it more and we wanted it. We have wanted it from pre-season training, so far so good.”
Though the first half failed to provide a goal, it was certainly not short of opportunities.
Panthers goalkeeper Mitch Britton made three brilliant saves to deny Mat Naylor from penalty corner drag flicks and when he did beat the custodian, the ball struck the post.
When Jarrod Cameron was shown a yellow card with 15 minutes gone his side had to scramble in defence. Both Al Alderson and Nick Milne made top tackles just as a rival Saint wound up for a shot inside the circle.
Down the other end of the field Pat’s goalkeeper Daniel Casey was not as busy, but he was still required to come up with some top blocks.
He made a double save when Panthers launched a quick counter attack and made another quality block five minutes from the break as the dangerous Brandan Horner found space in the circle.
Panthers earned their second penalty corner of the match in the shadows of half-time and had Pat’s defence scrambling as they moved the ball from the top of the circle to the right post and then turned it back to the seven. But Cameron Liles anticipated the play and was able to intercept the final pass to see it locked at nil-all after 35 minutes.
It took just over two minutes once play resumed for the Saints to finally get on the board, Riley Hanrahan drawing out the Panthers defence as he carried the ball down the right wing. He crossed back to the top of the circle to Naylor, whose first-time shot crashed into the back of the goal.
From the restart Panthers attacked through Horner and it took a brilliant, diving stick save from Casey to prevent an equaliser.
However, Panthers’ fourth penalty corner of the match saw the sides back on level terms as Travis Cameron’s low, hard shot found the mark.
Cameron also had a role in what proved to be the match winner.
When he was green carded, Pat’s quickly played on as other Panthers argued with the referee. The ball found the stick of an unmarked Naylor and he did the rest.
With 20 minutes left there was time for a Panthers comeback, but the closest they got was a Horner penalty corner drag flick that went wide to the right.
Panthers must now survive a preliminary final with Parkes if they want another shot at beating the Saints.
“We tinkered with things at half-time because they were falling away and letting us have the ball. So we went to a back four and we just held the ball so much stronger. I think we rushed a little too much in the first half,” Ekert said.
ST PAT’S 2 (Matt Naylor 2) defeated LITHGOW PANTHERS 1 (Travis Cameron)