AFTER Souths were lucky to escape with competition points in their last round of men’s Premier League Hockey action, today they want to avoid the need for late heroics when they take on the Dubbo Lions in Dubbo.

Like the rest of the teams in the competition, Souths sat out last Saturday with a general bye. But prior to that, they were lucky to force a 1-all draw with Parkes.

That performance gave Souths coach Ray Winwood-Smith plenty to digest and he and his side will certainly be looking for more consistency today.

Even with Dubbo struggling in last place on the ladder, Souths know they must strive to play with intensity for the entire 70 minutes.

“We’re certainly taking this game very seriously because we’ve worked hard over the last two weeks to correct what happened against Parkes,” he said.

“There’s nothing broken, we just need to continue to learn our structure, have the discipline to stay in it throughout the course of the game, and don’t fall back into old habits. 

“When we get caught up in the emotion of the game we lose our way.”

That last point is pertinent for today’s match as Souths look to improve on their fifth placing.

The last time these two teams came together it resulted in a fight and two players from each side were suspended.

“A lot of the things we’ve focused on at training has been our structure coming out of defence. Because we’ve changed things up so much this year, it’s about how well they can adapt to that,” Winwood-Smith said.

“Parkes was a good game because it tested us in a way we haven’t seen up to now. It was probably the strongest midfield in attack that we’ve played against this year. They put us under the pump and it was a good learning experience. It gives us the confidence that when we play to our structure, we can take it to any team.”

Winwood-Smith said the Lions remain somewhat of a mystery, but he expects they will be keen to impress on their home turf.

“Dubbo are a young and fit team who are still finding their feet. When you play a team like them who have the home support, it’s a huge advantage. We’ve seen them in glimpses this year, but we haven’t had a good chance to look at their players,” he said.

Souths will take an almost full-strength team to Dubbo, with Chris Hanrahan and Bryce Hitchcock absent.

The match at Dubbo will start at 2.55pm.