The red and blues suffered their first loss of the 2017 season, courtesy of perennial grand finalists Bathurst City and thanks to a short defensive lapse just after the half-time break.

Feds and City went into the break locked at 0-0, but the scoreline didn’t remain that way for long as the Bathurst side found the back of the net twice the first 15 minutes after returning to the field.

Brooke McFadden and Bec Bosianek found the mark for Bathurst City in the win, one which pushes the side up to second despite only playing one game so far.

The loss drops Feds down to fifth, a spot they haven’t been since coming back into the top tier.

It was a satisfying win from Bathurst City coach Lisa Quinn’s perspective. After facing Feds in a pre-season trial, she was well aware how tough Saturday was going to be.

That combined with Feds’ 2-1 win over Bathurst Souths in round one had Quinn anxious leading in.

“They have improved a lot since last season, I didn’t think it was going to be 2-0. I was worried that they might actually come away with the win if we didn’t play well,” Quinn said.

“But the girls played sensational I thought.

“We had a lot of good touches, we had most of the attack, had more corners than them and we came away with a nice win to start the season.”

Bathurst City was quick to settle into Saturday’s contest and soon began to apply pressure.

Confederates did threaten on the fast break, but in the main it was Bathurst City who did the attacking as a final penalty corner count of 10 to one indicates.

“We had a lot of attack in the first half, but we just weren’t putting the ball away,” Quinn said.

“At half-time I told the girls just to relax, get that ball headed towards goal and within the first 15 minutes of the second half we scored the two goals.

“They weren’t super-hard cracks at goal, they were just ball at the goal, in the right place at the right time with a bit of patience and a bit of poise.

“It clicked [on Saturday].”