“WE’VE just got to win.”
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Words like that are often heard from coaches, but Souths coach Damien Carter could not be more correct in assessing this Saturday’s women’s Premier League Hockey match against Lithgow Zig Zag.
Carter went into the season feeling optimistic given the talent he had within his squad, but after six rounds Souths has just one win to its credit.
The two blues sit in sixth position, trailing fifth placed Ex-Services by 10 points. The top five sides are the ones who will take part in the finals series.
Carter still believes Souths has the talent to be involved in the business end of the season, but acknowledged his players need to show why he holds that belief. They need to show it now.
“We’ve just got to win this weekend and we need to win next weekend as well to give ourselves a chance,” he said.
“If we do that we will finish the round two and five and then we will need to probably be five and two for the second half if we are going to make the finals.
“For that second round we will be without Tahlia Cranston and Tahnee Isedale, they’ll get back in the final game.
“That’s one of the frustrating things. If I had the same team every week we wouldn’t be one and five, I think we’d probably be three and two.
“We have no consistency with players at the moment, which makes it hard. When you move players around they don’t get used to where they are playing.”
This Saturday as Souths takes on a winless Zig Zag outfit at Bob Roach Field, the two blues line up will once more be shuffled with Emma Siejka and leading goal scorer Sarah Watterson absent.
There is no doubting Souths pose a larger threat when talented striker Watterson plays.
“The problem is we’ve only only had Sarah for four games, and in those four games she’s scored seven goals. If we had her for those two Orange games we would’ve won those, definitely,” Carter said.
“She averages two goals a game – we lost to Feds 2-1 so with her there we win that game with her two goals and against Exies, we lost 3-1 so if she was there, we draw that game.”
Aside from Watterson, Souths’ players have struggled to find the back of the net as evidenced by a -15 goal difference.
Given Zig Zag’s record is worse – the Lithgow side having conceded 35 goals and scored just three – Carter is hoping this Saturday marks a turn around.
“We know we can do it, we just need to finish those goals, if we want to win we need to finish,” the coach said.
“We need that X-factor to score goals. The girls are champing at the bit to prove they can score goals and they get their chance against Zig Zag.
“Everyone else has been flogging Zig Zag and while we’ve only won one game, we’ve been close.
“I just hope we can get those goals this weekend. We are not finishing and everyone is frustrated. We should be doing better than we are.
“We have been unlucky, we are not getting the close calls and it is frustrating the girls.
“But we just need to win this weekend, we should win this weekend.”
Saturday’s match between Souths and Zig Zag will get underway at 4pm at Bob Roach Field.
We know we can do it, we just need to finish those goals, if we want to win we need to finish.
- Damien Carter