HOCKEY
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Whatever spin you try and put on it, a win by Bathurst City over St Pat’s today in men’s Premier League Hockey would be a boilover of Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson proportions.
But if ever there was a time where form made such an upset a possibility, it is now.
The Saints are still leading the competition and surely still remain most people’s pick to win the title at the end of the year.
Their recent form, though, is as jittery as it has been for a couple of years, after a draw at home to Lithgow Zig Zag, a loss to local rivals Souths, and a narrow away win over the struggling Dubbo team last Saturday.
City, meanwhile, are coming off the best performance in their brief history as a Premier League unit, a 5-4 loss away from home against Parkes.
On reflection it was a game that they probably should have won, or at least drawn.
“Talking to one of the older St Pat’s players a few days ago, they’ve just been a bit off their game lately and things haven’t quite clicked. Though knowing our luck, they’ll go out and put it all together perfectly this weekend,” City coach Kevin Sherman said.
“Obviously when they’re at their best they are an excellent side, but if we can put it to them early like we did against Parkes you never know what can happen.
“If you score against anyone and can build a bit of a lead, it can force a bit of panic and from all reports last weekend that’s basically what happened against Parkes. We got a lead and they started to panic and make some mistakes.”
It was a bittersweet weekend for Sherman who was part of Bathurst’s winning NSW Championships over 50s first division side.
On the other hand he didn’t get the chance to watch his fledgling side give its best performance yet.
He admitted that even he was slightly taken aback when told of the scoreline in Parkes.
“It was a good weekend all-round, but it was a shame I couldn’t see what we did,” he said.
“I thought ‘geez, that’s alright’. To lead for a lot of the game and put a lot of goals in was very satisfying, it was good to see that the work we’ve done is starting to pay off.”
In previous games, finishing has been a major issue for City, but it was a number of factors that contributed to their haul last Saturday.
“It was a bit of everything, we were a bit more confident with the ball further up the field, we earned more short corners and converted two of them, and we scored a couple of field goals, so basically everything was working better in the forward half from what I was told,” he said.
For St Pat’s, it will be a case of getting back to business as usual after escaping with a 2-1 win over the Lions last weekend.
“Dubbo made us work hard for that win,” Pat’s defender Shane Conroy said.
“We haven’t been at our best over the last few weeks but we aren’t far away I don’t think, and although City are getting better with more and more experience, I think if we are somewhere near our best we can get a good win this week.”
City battle St Pat’s at Bob Roach Field from 12.20pm this afternoon.