They may have pushed Lithgow Panthers all the way, but Parkes United lost their second straight game on Saturday when they went down 2-1 to the Men's Premier League Hockey competition heavyweights.

Wins against the Panthers are few and far between and United will feel they let a golden opportunity slip last weekend.

In what was a tough, physical match United played a slick brand of hockey to match it with the Panthers right throughout the game.

While being disspointed with the end result, United were a much better team than the one that lost 4-0 to St Pats last week, even with some key players missing.

Graeme Thompson was unavailable for the match along with Tim Wright and Nathan Munday, meaning a lot of strike power was missing.

However, United still had plenty of quality on the park with the likes of Jack Elliott, Jacob Townsend, Ben Hawken and Kieren Deland steering the ship.

Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the first half but to their credit United kept fighting and created a number of opportunities that went begging.

Panthers were able to exploit United's left-side defence and kept finding space down the right flank.

However, Mat Swindle and Logan Dolbel came up with plenty of good plays in defence to keep Panthers at bay.

In the second half, Parkes started to string their passes together with Ian Westcott threatening through the midfield along with Hamish Orr and Andrew Bourke up front.

United finally cracked the Lithgow defence from a penalty corner when Orr pounced on a loose ball and slapped it into the back of the net.

Orr's celebration was worthy of a the English Premier League, however his shirt-over-the-head antics only served to pump up the Panthers who sprang back into life.

Panthers immediately went on the attack and after sustained pressure on United circle managed to scrap in a goal of their won to claim the lead back at 2-1.

United pushed hard in the search for an equaliser but were not able to get back on level terms.

The loss leaves United in the middle of the table and makes their home game against Zig Zag this Saturday a must-win clash.

LITHGOW PANTHERS 2 defeated PARKES UNITED 1 (Hamish Orr)