Bathurst rivals Souths to face St Pat's in Premier League Hockey women's local derby

Both teams are separated by just four points on the ladder, with St Pat's occupying third place on the ladder with four wins and a draw from eight matches, while Souths is in fifth, with just the one win and five draws so far this season.

Souths' Ange Johnson, who has taken on the coaching role this season, is going into the match confident that her team can claim its second win of the 2021 season.

"You've got to go into any match confident," she said.

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"I think you've also got to know you've done the work to get the win.

"We've had some really solid training sessions over the past three weeks. Sarah Watterson, who's a part of our leadership team, has put together some really exciting drills, that the girls that have been rolling through, learning from and building on each and every time.

"I certainly, as would Ben [Weal, St Pat's coach], think you have to back your team because you've done the work to get there."

Both teams will return to the field this Saturday for the round nine match after no games were played last Saturday because of the general bye for the June long weekend.

Johnson said it's been a great chance for her players to rest and recover, even though it might have been just the one week off.

"It's good to have a week off, especially when you're carrying niggling little injuries and illness this time of year," she said.

"It just gives the players just a bit of time to recharge. We also had a few players on representative duties, which is exciting for them."

Johnson said she's been impressed at how solid St Pat's have been in front of goal, having scored 18 goals in eight matches, the second most in the competition behind runaway leaders Lithgow Panthers.

"I think St Pat's have a really exciting blend of mature hockey heads and youth. They've always had this ability to find the net," she said.

"They won one of their matches a few weeks back 7-1 [against Ex-Services in round seven], so they're certainly calm in their defence and when moving into attack, they're exciting."

There's one thing Johnson and her teammates are sick of and that's draws.

Souths have draw five of its eight matches this season, by far the most by any team in the competition.

"I think the girls are starting to have an issue with the word 'draw'," she said.

"We're definitely in all of our games and we're matching it with some of the best teams in the competition.

"I'm laughing about it now, but we're ready to convert our results into some wins."

Play gets underway from the Cooke Hockey Complex from 12.20pm.

In the out of town matches, Ex-Services will play CYMS and Orange United will face Panthers.

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