Souths will be on the defensive against Lithgow Panthers

SOUTHS will have to turn today's contest with Lithgow Panthers into a scrap if they are to come away with their first points of the women's Premier League Hockey season according to coach Melissa Bestwick.

The two blues had encouraging start to 2015, but didn't take any competition points from round one as they went down 2-1 against St Pat's last Saturday.

In turn the Panthers drew with Bathurst City, but were missing a number of key players. It is expected that they will be understrength once more this afternoon.

However, at Lithgow the Panthers are always a tough side to beat regardless of who pulls on the shirt. It is something Bestwick is well aware of.

"Certainly we'd be happy if we could come away from this game with a draw. If you can take points off Lithgow at any time it is a big effort and to do it we've probably got to make it a defensive game and keep it low-scoring," she said.

"Taking them on any time is hard, doing it over there in Lithgow is more difficult again and we're going to be without a couple of players ourselves in Tahlia Cranston and Mish Somers."

Souths were good at times against St Pat's, particularly at the start and back ends of the match but found themselves pinned down in their own half for long periods in between.

The Saints earned 14 short corners, a statistic which rarely leads to a happy ending for the team on the end of it.

While Souths' defence for the most part coped well, two goals conceded was enough to lose the match. A repeat against Panthers won't end positively for Bestwick's team.

"Unfortunately when you're defending for 10 and 15 minutes at a time, your defence is going to give every now and then and that's where we lost it," she said.

"To only concede two goals was a positive in a way given that we went to sleep for a while there and the fact that we started and finished as well as we did gave us some extra confidence going forward.

"We have some things that we have to look at though, there's no doubt about it."

One of the major experiments Bestwick has already tried in her first month at the helm has been to move Candice Falconer into the unfamiliar role of centre half.

Based on last Saturday, the coach feels as though it has been a successful move.

"It is a great boost just to have Candice back with all the experience she brings," Bestwick said.

"Putting her in there allows Tahni Isedale to push up into the midfield and attack from there, something she has done in the past but without as much freedom as what she has now."

Souths meet Panthers from 2.40pm this afternoon.