Bathurst City down Parkes to claim first win of Premier League Hockey women's season

Played at the Cooke Hockey Complex on Saturday, City had both its goals in the first half, with skipper Jess Gardner opening the scoring within four minutes of the first quarter, before Jess Hotham doubled the hosts lead three minutes in the second quarter.

City did concede a penalty stroke three minutes out from half time, which Parkes' Abigail Simpson convert to have the score favouring the hosts 2-1 at half-time.

Yet neither team would find another goal in the second half and the score remained unchanged.

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Gardner said it was exciting for Bathurst City to finally claim victory its first win of the season.

"We've just been unlucky this season," she said.

"We haven't been unable to convert our chances in our other games, so to score some goals and actually win was really nice for the young team."

Gardner explained that her team put in a solid, all-round performance in the one-goal victory.

"We just trusted each other today," she said.

"The passing was really good and everyone worked well as a team. There wasn't one player standing out and the goals that were scored, they were all team efforts."

Bathurst City still remains in last place in eighth, however, the club is just four points off Parkes in seventh place.

Parkes skipper Wendy Rix said while there's room for improvement, she's remaining optimistic about her team's chances for the remainder of the 2021 season.

"I guess what I took away from that game is that there's a bit to work on," she said.

"We're still maintaining that positivity and the young ones having been stepping up and doing their job.

"We're still hopeful that in the next couple of games we can get some wins on the backend of the season."

Rix acknowledged that her team needs to get back to the basics in training this week ahead of its clash with Lithgow Panthers next Saturday.

"Probably the basic control of the ball and being strong on our passes is what we need to work on," she said.

"It's probably a big thing that is letting us down at the moment."

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