IN THE space of 10 minutes minutes the clinical Lithgow Panthers sunk Orange Wanderers’ in the two sides’ men’s Premier League Hockey final round match-up on Saturday at Orange Hockey Complex.
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With the game deadlocked at 0-0 and Wanderers more than matching it with their Lithgow counterparts, the Panthers proceeded to pop in four goals between the 22nd and 32nd minutes to put Wanderers’ hopes of an upset win to bed.
It resigned the Orange side to a season-finishing loss as well, and secured the minor title and a home semi-final for Lithgow.
Three of those goals came from Orange native and NSW Country gun Nic Milne’s stick too.
Milne blasted a hat-trick in the space of six minutes, scoring from short corners in the 22nd, 25th and 28th minutes to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead, which they only built on through Michael Charlton’s goal just before half-time, and Ron Charlton’s just after.
“Nic Milne was very good, those short corners, they were just so clinical,” Wanderers player-coach Matt Johnson said.
“We were hoping to have a say in who won that minor premiership, that was our motivation on Saturday, but as I said Lithgow were just far too clinical.
“We played well for 20 minutes but we just fell asleep, they took their chances.
“A bit like we’ve done all year we just had that lapse, that little period where we’d concede.”
Wanderers were ruled out of post-season contention some two weeks ago, where Panthers will play Bathurst Souths in the major semi-final and Bathurst St Pat’s will play Lithgow Zig Zag in the minor.
“It is pretty disappointing to not be there and to finish like that, especially considering the way we started the seasons,” Johnson said.
“Yes, we copped some injuries but every team does. We were being talked about as one of the teams to watch out for at the start and then we just didn’t finish the year well enough.
“But we’ll watch on from the sidelines, jealous, and use that as motivation for next season.”
Johnson said while Panthers and St Pat’s are quality sides, he has a feeling Souths might go all the way.
“Being a Souths junior I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for them, but I think they could do it,” Johnson said.
“It’ll be a very good finals series that’s for sure, that major semi-final will be a great game. Panthers have had the wood on Souths for a while but that will just motivate the Bathurst boys.
“I think whoever wins that game will go on and win the whole thing.”
LITHGOW PANTHERS 5 (Nic Milne 3, Michael Charlton, Ron Charlton) def ORANGE WANDERERS 0