Saints had their opportunities to put both games away at Cooke Hockey Complex during Bathurst's gala day but had to settle for a 2-all draw with the Orange men and a 4-all score line against Panthers.

The pre-season competition uses a modified scoring format where field goals are worth two points while successful penalty corners are worth one.

Pat's struck three field goals across their two matches and were unfortunate not to come away with more.

Shane Conroy said the nine-a-side format made for some exciting hockey.

"Being nine-a-side it was different structurally from a normal game, and we had to make a few changes on the run, but we took it seriously because we wanted to get some results and confidence," he said.

"We have some younger guys in the team so building up some more confidence in them will be great in the long run.

"Wanderers only had the one game so they went all out. They're a young, fit squad. We had to put away more of our opportunities."

Conroy believes the scoring system has encouraged a different style of hockey to be adopted - one his team has enjoyed.

"It's what they use in the Indian Premier League competition. It's to promote more goals in broken play since a lot of good teams can score from penalty corners," he said. 

"Someone suggested it and we agreed to try it out for the nine-a-side competition and it definitely made it interesting.

"Some of the other games were very high scoring. Zig Zag and Parkes' game finished around 9-5.

"It makes the game much more open and it means you can make a quick comeback with a few field goals."

St Pat's have just the single game on the Saturday after the Easter break. They'll face Lithgow Zig Zag in Orange.