Positional battles at training always bring the best out in a playing group, and Pete Shea's 2021 CYMS are no exception.
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The green and golds are content with a 1-1 start to the Premier League Hockey season but after a healthy number of players turned up to the practice field during the week, drastic improvements are expected to come.
Skipper Maddy Smith will lead CYMS into battle on Saturday as Bathurst City will make the trip to the Orange Hockey Centre.
"They're a young side like us and when we played them at the gala day, we beat them 1-0," Smith said.
"They're quick and they're tough and every time we play them it's a battle. We've got no doubt tomorrow is going to be fast and physical and we're going to respect them."
Last season, CYMS were known for their unusually young side but now, there's a healthy mix of leadership and youth that's making for some competitive training sessions during the week.
"There's heaps at training and all the players are competing for their spots," she said.
"Everyone's raring to go."
While there's reason to be optimistic ahead of the weekend, there's still a bit of disappointment left over from last week's derby loss to Ex-Services and Shea has been working hard to correct CYMS' downfalls during the week.
"We've been working on making the pass once we see it and not hesitating," she said.
"We don't want to be holding the ball for too long. We also had a lot of one-on-one opportunities last week and we didn't really back ourselves.
"Hopefully tomorrow we can throw the ball around, get some short corners and put some goals on the board."
CYMS and Bathurst City kick off at 3.10pm.
In the other PLH contests, Orange United hosts St Pat's while Ex-Services travels to play Souths,
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