ST PAT'S may have done as was expected on Saturday and won their men's Premier League Hockey match over newcomers the Dubbo Lions, but they did get a scare before scraping home 2-1.

The victory at Bob Roach Field was the fourth from as many rounds for Pat's, but the highlight of the contest was the Lions' defensive efforts.

Aside from a five-minute period in the second half in which they controlled proceedings, the Lions spend almost the entire match fending off attack after attack from Pat's.

Pat's co-captain Jaden Ekert wasn't thrilled with the way his team earned their victory.

"We weren't composed and we turned over too much ball. The basics let us down, but a win's a win," he said.

"Dubbo look to be a good team. They're aggressive and they want to play. It's good having them back in the comp and they showed today even with us on top how competitive they can be. They'll be a bit of dark horse I think."

All three goals of the match came in the first nine minutes.

It was the visitors who shocked their rivals by scoring first when Dalton Medcalf was allowed an easy entry at the top of the circle and fired his shot into the back of the goal.

But Peter Cobcroft levelled soon after before the Saints earned their first penalty corner of the match. From the set play Tobbie Muldoon's drag flick gave the blue and whites a 2-1 lead.

Pat's began to focus a lot of their attack down the left wing through players like Brodie Cook and Darcy Davis, but still had no answers to breaking down the Lions' defence.

Pat's third penalty corner of the match forced a great diving save from Dubbo goalkeeper Gavin Weakes, who had plenty of work to do in the minutes leading up to half-time.

Luke Thorncraft had a golden opportunity shortly after the break to give the Saints more of a buffer when he went one-on-one with Weakes, but again the Lions' custodian was up to the task.

After that play Dubbo finally enjoyed some quality possession and had several circle penetrations. However, that good period for the visitors came to an end when Medcalf was yellow carded.

The Lions did have a late chance to equalise when earning a penalty corner with two minutes remaining, but they couldn't capitalise.

ST PAT'S 2 (Peter Cobcroft, Tobbie Muldoon) defeated DUBBO LIONS 1 (Dalton Medcalf)