ORANGE Ex-Services has dropped its first women’s Premier League Hockey clash in seven weeks, Bathurst City too strong in a 3-0 victory at Bob Roach Field.

Ironically, the last game Ex-Services lost was also 3-0 against City, and on Saturday in Bathurst goals from Casey Bayliss, Chayse Holland and Andrea Seymour helped the home side confirm their spot in the top three.

“That’s nice because Ex-Servies are one of those teams that tend to progress throughout the year and get better and better,” City captain Kelsey Willott said.

It was bright start for the home team, who only needed two minutes to find the back of the net, Bayliss nailing the game’s opener.

But after that Exies stepped up their game and created several scoring opportunities in a small amount of time.

The pick of them began with a Haley Butcherine run, the fleet-footed striker then linking with Kasey Byrne. 

Byrne in turn fed the ball in to Jade Williams, whose high shot was blocked by City goalkeeper Maddie Tattersall. 

Nine minutes out from half-time and against the run of play, a pinpoint Jess Hotham long pass into the circle found Holland, who beat a diving Erin Horan to extend the lead.

City then netted off the stick of Seymour to make it 3-0 in the second half to secure the win.

“It was a patience thing for us. We were looking promising, but we couldn’t wait for it to break. We couldn’t wait, we then got frustrated and started to turn away from the things that were working for us,” Exies coach Mitch Kennewell said.

BATHURST CITY 3 (Casey Bayliss, Chayse Holland, Andrea Seymour) defeated ORANGE EX-SERVICES 0