Premier League Hockey: St Pat's and Souths women hope double-header success ensures a finals spot

Bathurst's Cooke Hockey Complex had been slated to host nine Premier League games on a huge Saturday of action headlined by the women's double-headers.

However, the Bathurst Hockey Association informed PLH earlier this week that due to concerns over health and safety in relation to COVID-19 and the current NSW Health public health orders, it would not host those games.

That news came after all round 11 games were cancelled due to the impact of the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Bathurst Hockey Association president Kent Bestwick, who consulted with his board members and Hockey New South Wales, said the decision was not made lightly.

But while wishing to promote PLH, Bestwick said the health and safety of BHA members had to be the first priority.

"It's about the protection of our 880 members, our employees and our volunteers and our officials. We can't take the risk," he said.

"It's the fact that they [PLH] stated last weekend the games did not go ahead due to concerns about the health and safety of players and seven days later nothing has changed with those public health orders.

"It's just not worth it, we don't want to be the ones in charge if there is a breach, no-one can guarantee that won't happen, so they're not playing in Bathurst."

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With Bathurst saying no, a PLH meeting was held on Thursday night involving member clubs to find a solution.

It was Lithgow that offered the competition a lifeline, agreeing to schedule all games of the double-header and the men's match between St Pat's and Lithgow Storm around their local association fixtures.

The remaining men's match between Orange Wanderers and Parkes will be played at Orange.

The Saints men are already assured a place in the major semi-final of their four-team competition alongside Storm.

As for the women's competition, the Saturday double-header where teams can potentially earn eight points means there could be plenty of shuffling on the ladder.

Here's a look at what lies in store on Saturday for each of Bathurst's women's teams.

SCORE early then maintain intensity - that will be the mission for the Saints as they look to book themselves a sport in the major semi-final with wins over CYMS and Parkes.

Ben Weal's side heads into the double-header sitting in third on the ladder and while they are one win out of the top two, their spot in the semi-finals is not yet cemented either.

"It's up to us to put the performance on the paddock, then depending what happens in other games ... we can get in that top two," Weal said.

"You can have other results that end up helping you, but as long as we turn up and play well, everything else will take care of itself, we can't really control or predict what will happen in other games."

For Weal the key to success in those two games will be finding an early goal and if they can't manage to do that, his Saints must stick to their structures and remain patient.

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"Hopefully we can put some goals in, if we manage to score early we tend to go on with it, but in those games where we don't take our opportunities and get frustrated, that's when we then end up having a bit of a battle," he said.

"The game against Orange United a couple of weeks ago was a classic example, we couldn't score those early goals and put ourselves in a situation where we got frustrated and they were able to knock a couple in.

"if we can score early I feel we can go on with the job, but if we don't then we've got to stay focussed and play our game and not go away from that. When we get frustrated we tend to go away from our plan and structure and try to score off every opportunity."

The Saints will play CYMS at 9am in the first leg of their double-header then do battle with Parkes from 3.10pm.

SOUTHS captain Tahni Isedale has confidence her team can end a six-year absence from the finals series, but she knows it will require plenty of fight.

Souths heads into Saturday's double-header sitting two points outside the top four. In order to climb the ladder it will mean beating current frontrunners Lithgow Panthers and a Parkes outfight also hoping to sneak into the semis.

While Isedale is proud two blues have improved on their winless 2020 campaign, she wants to keep it going.

"It is a big turnaround for us to have semis on the cards this year. We have had a few years where we've been in that fifth spot and we know anything can happen on Saturday when there are eight points up for grabs." she said.

"We didn't do ourselves any favours throughout the season, particularly this year having all those draws [six], but we are confident going into the the weekend.

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"We had a couple of good games in the first double-header, we've trained well and are pretty keen.

"To give ourselves the best chance we've got to go out and win both. Playing two games is difficult, Parkes and Panthers will be two tough games, but we're going to go out and give it a crack and hopefully it falls into place.

"You've got to back yourselves in or you won't get there."

Souths will play Parkes at 10.30am while their game against Panthers starts 4.30pm.

WITH zero pressure on his team going into Saturday, Bathurst City coach Mal Willott expects them to play some free flowing hockey against Lithgow Panthers and Orange Ex-Services.

Finals are out of the picture for City, but they are still hungry claim to another big upset against current frontrunners Lithgow after their recent 2-1 success over Orange United.

The other very big motivator for City is avoiding the wooden spoon. Exies sit just two points ahead of them and face Orange United in the other leg of their double-header.

"The girls are really keen to play against Lithgow, whether they have all their players or not. Last time we played them they beat us 4-2 but we had such a young team, so they're very keen to go again," Willott said.

"I'd like to win both games and the girls feel the same. When you look at that last game we had against Orange United there's no reason that we can't do it.

"At this stage it's looking like we'll have everyone on hand for the weekend too."

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While they'd love to go out on a high, the final 2021 ladder is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things for City. They'll continue to look towards their future with the young, potential-filled squad they have.

"It's still building towards next year," Willott said.

"If we can finish this year on a high with two wins this weekend that means we will have ended with three wins in a row."

City take on Panthers at 9am and Exies at 4.30pm.

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