SOUTHS spent almost an hour trying to claw back a one goal deficit in their women’s Premier League Hockey season opener against Confederates on Saturday but their search for a goal wasn’t successful.
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After several seasons of struggles Confederates showed they will be a side to look out for in 2017 as they kept Souths at bay in a 2-1 result.
All goals in the match came in a five minute first half window.
Pip Mannix found the opening goal for Confederates at the 12 minute mark before the two blues struck back almost immediately through Meg Booth.
Booth found the mark on her debut for Souths with an excellent trap and shot into the bottom-right corner of the goal.
Millah Allcorn nabbed the lead back quickly for the hosts when her touch beat Souths goalkeeper Kate Brown.
Carter said his side remained upbeat following the defeat.
“I said to the girls to keep their heads up. We’re playing one of the teams that everyone’s talking about and you deserved at least a draw out of it,” he said.
“That’s an encouraging game for them, and we’ll have both Sarah Watterson back from Japan and Tahlia Cranston in as well.
“The finishing will just come with playing games. Our defence was fantastic and our lead-up to our shots was fantastic. That finishing is just what we have to work on.
“The girls were still able to walk away happy and that’s what I want to see.”
The two blues fared well against an improved Feds outfit, and limited their scoring opportunities.
“Rachel Divall was strong for them but Maddy Boyce played in centre-mid and just harassed her all game,” Carter said.
“Our girls at the back, Kate Brown, Tahni Isedale and Amelia Burke played out of their skins.
“Daisy Morrissey was our player of the match. She was unbelievable.”
Souths were denied a goal in the opening minutes of the match when an Ali Stanford shot from a short corner hit the post.
The shot came on the back of two previous unsuccessful short corners for Souths during a promising start.
Later in the match Souths celebrated what they thought was the levelling goal but it was denied for a stick check.
Souths captain Stanford was shown yellow inside the final 10 minutes for sideline abuse directed towards the referees.
In that time the Bathurst side survived two Feds short corners.
“It was frenetic out there at the beginning, so to hold off Souths, a class side, we’re really happy with that,” Feds coach Fiona Reith said.
