RAY Winwood-Smith has seen enough men’s Premier League Hockey Bathurst derbies to know what his Souths outfit will need to produce this Saturday to topple St Pat’s.
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Consistency.
It is the factor the coach feels has given the competition leading Saints the edge over both his side and the rest of the teams so far this season.
Though Souths has certainly produced some impressive hockey in 2017, Winwood-Smith admits the two blues have not been able to maintain their intensity and focus for an entire 70 minutes.
“Pat’s are a quality side, they play strong, consistent hockey and it’s hard to match them, but man-to-man I believe we have the team to match them,” he said.
“Where Pat’s do get you is they play consistently for the whole 70 and if we can do that, play our best hockey for 70 minutes, then I am very, very confident that we can come out on top.
“Man for man, I think we are as good as anyone.
“When we play well we play extremely well, we’ve got no dramas with that. For us it’s just about that consistency. It’s a mental thing, mental preparation, and we’ve spoken about that at training.”
While the Saints, who beat Souths 2-1 earlier this season, will be playing to cement the minor premiership on Saturday, for Winwood-Smith it is about locking down third on the ladder.
He also wants Souths to head into the finals in a fortnight on the back of some good hockey rather than having to find form after a defeat.
“For us it is about building momentum into the semi-finals, we need to be playing at our best now if we want to be serious contenders,” he said.
“What we will take into this weekend in terms of our structures and style, that is what we will take right through the finals.
“We play Pat’s and Zig Zag before finals, we’ve got Zig Zag next weekend, and that is great, it will be a good build up and it’s a chance for us to put our act together.
“We’ve trained really well in the build up, so the feeling amongst the players at the moment is very positive.
“If it’s not the best game of the year, then I think it will certainly be up there.”
Souths will be missing Brad Brown and Nick McEwan for the match, which will commence at 2.30pm.