ONE side is searching for their first win while the other is just craving their first men’s Premier League Hockey goal.

That is the situation at hand for the first derby between Souths and Bathurst City in the competition, the local rivals to clash at Bob Roach Field today.

Souths come into the match after 3-0 defeat to St Pat’s, that result adding to their opening round draw.

But while the two blues have had a tough start to their new campaign, City have found their task even harder.

The competition newcomers have been on the road in the opening fortnight of the 2015 competition and last Saturday were put to the sword in a 12-0 clinic against Lithgow Panthers.

It means Souths will head into today’s contest as the warm favourites.

Souths coach Dale Campbell said his team do have positives to build on from last week’s performance.

“It wasn’t all bad news. The result may have been bad news, but to hold Pat’s out for 50 minutes was acceptable. We had a couple of good opportunities to score, but Pat’s nullified them,” he said.

“It could have been 1-all there one stage, but their fitness prevailed. We couldn’t mark our positions and they put in two late. I was still happy with how we hung in there.”

From meeting last year’s runners-up to now facing a team yet to find the back of the net today, it is a big change up for Souths. 

However, Campbell refuses to take City easily.

“I don’t know too much about the style of hockey that they play. They’ll be keen to impress playing with a home crowd. While I’m not sure how they’ll play, our boys have that knowledge and experience from Premier League and it should show,” he said.

“The boys would have played against each other before, especially through [local] first grade. Neill Gunning also played for us at one stage a couple of seasons ago, but we still don’t know much about the team.

“We can’t afford to take them easy.”

Though tackling Souths is no easy task, City will at least get to play on their home turf for the first time after facing Zig Zag and Panthers in Lithgow to start their campaign.

City coach Kevin Sherman and his team are looking forward to the friendlier atmosphere.

“It should be great. They’re very keen for it,” he said.

“For us it’s just basics, marking players and being strong on the ball. Our passes aren’t coming along and they’re just a bit wayward at the moment.

“I think there’s still some nerves there and maybe just some players trying a little too hard in some respects. If we can just get one or two goals in, then it will make a difference. We came close in our first game when we hit the post. It’s little things like that could have gone our way and changed things.”

Souths will be without Chris Hanrahan and Liam Woodward for the match, but they will welcome back Bryce Hitchcock and Dylan Smith.

City will be minus Luke McIntosh due to a twisted knee, while Alex Horton is also in doubt with hamstring concerns.

The match is set to start at 3.20pm today.