As was the case in round one when playing out a 4-all draw, Saturday’s rematch at Bob Roach Field was a tight arm-wrestle for a bulk of the 70 minutes.

Both teams had five penalty corners plays and plenty of circle penetrations, but it was Souths who capitalised on more of its opportunities to take the four competition points on offer.

Souths assistant coach Craig Healey was pleased with the outcome, but also acknowledged the the Saints had make them work for it.

“We were probably pushed a lot more today than we have been in the last couple of weeks – aside from Panthers – but they had some good attack today, the system they are playing at the moment is working really well for them,” he said.

“Our boys had to really dig deep in defence today and they did that, there was just that little minor lapse there towards the end of the second half.”

Souths struck first as Daniel Carter turned a bullet-like ball from Nick McEwen into the net on seven minutes.

The two blues also had the first chance to put their penalty corner battery into action on the 22 minute mark, but Pat’s goalkeeper Taylor Newton blocked the initial strike before Trent Simpson then cleared the loose ball out of the circle.

When the Saints got their chance from the set play nine out from half-time it was a different story, Brent Naylor’s perfectly placed effort clattering into the back of the goal.

That locked it up at 1-all, but three minutes later Souths was back in front as Jono Baillie blasted home a cross from close range.

In the second stanza the Saints pushed hard for an equaliser and were on target with two of their penalty corner shots, but Souths goalkeeper John Rudge had them covered.

Down the other end Newton made a smart one-on-one block on McEwen, but with five left on the clock he was unable to hold out Carter from a penalty corner.

From the restart Pat’s went straight into attack and hit back via Shane Conroy to make it 3-2, and that is where the score remained.

With Panthers falling to Zig Zag in the Lithgow derby, the result in Bathurst sees Pat’s slip to fourth and Souths in outright first.

It is a spot Healey is happy for his side to be in, but he knows they must continue to improve to remain there.

“We made a few minor errors in the midfield, but all-in-all I’m very happy with the way the boys played today,” he said.