St Pat's coach Jaden Ekert must think on his feet against Dubbo Blue Jays

ST PAT'S will look to build on their bright start to the women's Premier League Hockey season when they host the Dubbo Blue Jays at Bob Roach Field this afternoon in round two of the competition.

The Saints won a close local derby last Saturday with a 2-1 result over Souths, but face a Dubbo team who have some confidence themselves after starting off with a 2-0 victory against Confederates.

In their return to the competition in 2014, the Blue Jays didn't make the finals. However, they were competitive all season long, winning four and drawing two of their 18 matches, including a draw with the Saints themselves.

Pat's coach Jaden Ekert is wary of the Blue Jays and said that he will have to think on his feet, having not seen a lot of their play in the past.

"I did get to watch one of their games last year against our girls. They play a very different type of hockey to most teams, I'll need to watch pretty closely to see how the first half goes and then try and work off that in the second," he said.

"They drew with our side last year in one match so they can play. They have two quick strikers and their defensive line is very good, it won't be an easy game."

In round one St Pat's spent a lengthy period of time camped in Souths' defensive quarter and earned a massive 14 short corners. In the end they won a close match 2-1.

One way to look at that would be to worry that for all the chances they created, Pat's couldn't make more of them.

But clearly on the other hand it shows that their structures and positional work was effective in pinning their opposition down and giving themselves every opportunity.

"Souths saved four goals on the line, on another day the scoreline could have been different and you are always going to see chances being missed," Ekert said.

"As the weeks progress we will get better at converting. The goals will come if we keep creating those short corners and the scoring chances.

"The biggest thing for me out of that game was how fit we were, it was really encouraging and we'll be better again in that department against Dubbo."

St Pat's will have to overcome two major personnel losses today with star attacker Kristy Ekert and fellow Australian Country representative and goalkeeper Karen Fieldus to both miss out.

The match gets underway at 1.50pm today.