CONFEDERATES coach Mark Pengilly was at a loss to explain his team’s performance against Parkes in their women’s Premier League Hockey match on Saturday.
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Parkes scored a 5-nil win after leading 3-nil at half-time and the Orange coach said his team was simply not at its best.
“We just didn’t turn up to play,” Pengilly put simply.
“The girls seemed flat and allowed them to dictate terms, then we were just playing catch-up hockey.
“The girls played well in defence but lacked a bit of firepower up front.”
Young-gun Eva Reith-Snare did her best to give Confederates something to cheer about, with one shot just going wide of goal and another hitting the post.
“She was one of our best up-front. She showed really promising signs,” Pengilly said.
Denise Gersbach opened the scoring for Parkes in the seventh minute before Louise Hawken and Cassandra Hodge pushed the lead out to 3-nil before the break.
Pengilly said the Confederates players had a good chat at half-time about what they needed to work on.
“We said we needed to get back in defence better and just fix up some basic stuff which let us down in the first half,” he said.
“We stood off them and let them run the ball around. Parkes played well.”
Things improved in the second half but Hodges was able to score her second and Sarah Melhuish nailed Parkes’ fifth and final goal.
Hodges was a stand-out for Parkes along with goalkeeper Amy Thornberry and Codie Wakefield.
“Sam (Stevenson) played well at the back and Teagan (Carpini) and Rachael (Hinds) were good,” Pengilly said of his players.
Confederates have a tough assignment in the next round when they take on third-placed Bathurst City.
“We’ll be hoping for a big improvement on this week,” Pengilly said.
PARKES 5 (Cassandra Hodges 2, Denise Gersbach, Sarah Melhuish, Louise Hawken) def CONFEDERATES 0
