It's little wonder that clashes between St Pat's and Bathurst City are always much anticipated and, no matter the fortunes of each outfit at a particular point, are hotly contested.

The Saints bettered City 2-0 earlier this season, but since then their rivals have improved.

Will it be enough to see Lisa Quinn's Bathurst City square the 2019 ledger when meeting again this Saturday, or will Jaden Ekert's Saints go marching in?

The coaches break it down ahead of the derby.

ST Pat's head into the derby on the back of a 3-1 loss to CYMS, which has them sitting third on the ladder.

But Ekert is "stoked" with the current form of his side and feels their brand of hockey will serve them well at the pointy end of the season.

"We have been, probably the last six weeks, playing exactly the way I need us to play," he said.

"It's just a matter of taking it week by week, it's the old cliche, but that's how I run things. Finals take care of themselves, if you do the week by week stuff you'll end up where you deserve to be."

Bathurst City currently holds down fourth, but is 10 competition points behind Pat's and is under pressure to prevent Confederates and Souths from taking that spot off them.

Still, City's past fortnight has marked their most successful period of the season thus far with a win over competition leaders CYMS and a much-improved Zig Zag. Quinn is keen to build on that.

"Our current form, absolutely I'm happy. Our last two games have been two of our better games of the season, but we've got to keep that going," she said.

"The young girls that were not making starts last year, but are starting this year, are finally finding their feet, which has been handy.

"We've also made a couple of positional changes, which took awhile to sort out, which I think has helped as well.

"Having Kelly Baker come back [from injury] has made a massive difference to the midfield but we still unfortunately have Anna [Cartwright] out."

READ MORE: Quinn has been content to build in 2019

READ MORE: CYMS get the better of the Saints

READ MORE: Souths must improve to topple Zig Zag

WITH 29 goals from 10 rounds, the Saints boast the league's best attacking record.

The combination of emerging stars, young talents who are taking more Premier League responsibility and proven performers is something Ekert is delighted to have at his disposal.

"I've injected a heap of youth this year, just because you need that going forward. The likes of Millie Fulton, Ruby Clarke, Paige Hay," he said.

"The you throw in Watto [Sarah Watterson], Kristy [Ekert], Amy Boye and Macey Fulton who is our youngest Premier League player at 13 years old, yeah, I am spoilt for choice.

"The younger girls know that in these big games you need to do the basic things right and not the flashy stuff."

After a slow start to the season - being held scoreless in three of their first four games - things are starting to click for City.

In the past fortnight they've struck six times through four different players and as nine penalty corners against Zig Zag shows, they are creating plenty more chances on top of that.

"We'll have Casey Bayliss [Miles] back which makes a difference to the leadership up in the front line, she's really great making sure the girls are leading properly and linking together," Quinn said.

"Kelsey Webb and Jade Te Weehi, who were finding it hard to get a start last year, have really found their feet in the striker roles."

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EKERT concedes defensive lapses hurt his side last Saturday when falling to Orange CYMS, but make no mistake, he sees this area as a huge strength for the blue and whites.

Her rates custodian Lilli-Rai Campbell as the best shot-blocker in the competition and knows a strong defence is how victories are built.

"Our defence has been on song for probably the last two months and having Lilli-Rai there - I'm not being biased - but she's the best keeper in the comp by far really helps," he said

"Having Lucy Weal in front of her too, who oozes experience, is great.

"At the end of the day, I always base our game on defence and what our defence does first because you only need to win by one goal. If our defence is right, our structures are right and we're doing all the hard things, we'll come out of it okay."

Like Ekert, Quinn acknowledges a strong defensive base has been critical to the success City has enjoyed so far this season.

"Our defenders have been working very well and have made a difference to the results of our games," she said.

"Our defence has always been very hungry and very aggressive - they are players who don't want to give up and that's a good sign."

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QUINN cast an eye over the Saints last Saturday and while she is keeping City's tactics for the derby under wraps, it gave her some ideas.

"I feel like they have changed their game a little bit, but I'll have some some strategies up my sleeve which I hope can combat their strengths," she said.

"I think it's helpful to know who you are playing against and where their strengths are and what sort of pattern they're playing. To me they do look a little bit different from previous years, but I think I've seen enough of them to know where their strengths and weaknesses are."

In contrast, Ekert pulls no punches when identifying the area of City's game he thinks his side can exploit, but he knows they have to be smart to do so.

It means you could see something a little different from the Saints.

"To me their defence is weak, they're slow, but in saying that, their positional play is really good," he said.

"So if we're trying to outplay them in terms of structure, we are going to be on the same page. We need to think outside the square and maybe a game like this is where someone like an experienced player comes over the top."

Saturday's match at Bob Roach Field starts at 3.15pm.