WITH one fighting for survival and the other to maintain hopes of a top finish, Saturday’s men’s Premier League Hockey match between Souths and Wanderers shapes as a blockbuster.
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To be played at Bob Roach Field, Souths heads into the contest sitting in fourth spot, six points clear of Wanderers.
With only the top four to advance to the finals, the pressure is on the Orange side to win.
Souths did get the better of its rival in the opening round – prevailing 2-1 – and coach Ray Winwood-Smith knows his men will need to work hard to replicate that.
“If they win it keeps their finals hopes alive, if they lose then they’re out, so they have everything to play for against us,” he said.
“We are taking this game very seriously, we will be playing for a purpose and that’s to finish in that top two.
“There are no easy games now, but I’m looking forward to the run home and building some momentum. We need to make the most of the opportunities that we’ve got.”
Last Saturday as Wanderers upset Lithgow Zig Zag 5-2 to keep its title hopes alive, Souths let a two-goal lead slip to draw 4-all with Parkes.
That result means Souths is four points behind currently second placed Lithgow Panthers and in order to make up the deficit, Winwood-Smith needs to see improvement.
If they win it keeps their finals hopes alive, if they lose then they’re out, so they have everything to play for against us.
- Ray Winwood-Smith
However, Souths did create plenty of chances against Parkes. It will be a matter of better capitalising on those this Saturday.
“This game is important for us and probably moreso after what happened last week, obviously Orange had a really good result and it was a disappointing result for us,” Winwood-Smith said.
“For us, we need to get back to where we need to be in terms of our playing style this week.
“It was a funny game [against Parkes], it ended up 4-all, but we could’ve won 10-4.
“We dominated the game pretty well, but we didn’t score and we just got more and more frustrated and that let them back into the game, we just didn’t have patience.
“But I’ll take a draw over loss any day and it wasn’t all bad.
“There’s just that five percent differnce between winning the game strongly and having a draw, it’s just that patience that was lacking.
“So that’s what we need to concentrate on this week, our composure and control.”
In a boost for Souths, it will be at full strength for the round 10 match.
Saturday’s match between Souths and Wanderers will start at 2.30pm.