THEY can’t climb to third and it would take something remarkable for them to lose fourth, but St Pat’s coach Niel Howard still wants to see his men give 100 percent in the final round of men’s Premier League Hockey.
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The Saints will host Lithgow Zig Zag at Bob Roach Field, the same team they will almost certainly square off with seven days later in the minor semi-final.
While Orange Wanderers are one win behind St Pat's on the ladder, to dislodge the Saints from fourth it not only needs to topple competition leading Souths and hope the blue and whites lose, but make up 15 goals in its for and against ratio.
It is an unlikely scenario.
As such, Howard will rest the experienced Shane Conroy and Jaden Ekert and offer another of the Saints’ talented juniors – Fletcher Norris – a taste of Premier League.
“Everyone knows Fletcher and knows his ability. He’s been training with us all year and has been going really well, but unfortunately he plays soccer each Saturday which means he hasn’t been able to play for us,” Howard said.
“We’ll try a few different things, a few players in different positions, and see how it holds up.”
Howard is happy with how the structure he has implemented since taking the helm as Saints coach has worked and though admitting some of the juniors he’s blooded are still “a bit green”, he’s happy with their progress.
He can’t fault the work ethic either.
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“The boys are still working hard and putting in at training. We train twice a week, so that’s three hours, and we are getting 90 percent of the squad turning up,” he said.
“I said to the boys the other night that we’ve only got to win three more games, you make the finals and anything can happen, who knows who will turn up on the day?”
However, one thing that Howard would like to improve is a better conversion rate.
The Saints have not been lacking in terms of circle penetrations and shots, but that effort is not being reflected on the scoreboard. It is something that will matter come finals.
“Last week against Wanderers we had 50 shots on goal and 23 of those came in the second half. We only got one goal from it,” the coach said.
To try and improve that ratio, Howard has placed an emphasis on stick work at training. He hopes it pays off against Zig Zag, but the main thing we wants is continued effort.
“We’ll go out there and continue to do what we’ve been doing and result will be the result. But if we go out there and give 100 percent on the field, then we can hold our heads high,” he said.
St Pat’s and Zig Zag will square off from 1.50pm at Bob Roach Field.
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