IT seems strange for a side to go into a men’s Premier League Hockey match mid-way through the season trailing their opposition by four points on the ladder, but to still be a reasonably warm favourite.

But given what happened last time they met, Souths surely can take a lot of confidence into this afternoon’s clash against Orange Wanderers at Bob Roach Field.

Despite playing away from home, they thrashed the Wanderers 7-1 in their first meeting of 2016 and if they replicate that sort of form, they can draw level with them and potentially go past them on for-and-against.

Souths had been on an upwards trajectory, which was highlighted a fortnight ago with a rare win over St Pat’s in the local derby, though they lost some momentum with a 5-3 loss against Lithgow Panthers last weekend.

Experienced two blue Jack Bright says that the Panthers result isn’t too much of a cause for concern, and he is confident his side will bounce back against Wanderers.

“We had a really good win over them the first time, we were good in front of goal and kept them pretty quiet at the other end of the field,” he said.

“Maybe we lost a bit of form last weekend but we were right in the Panthers game, we had a lot of circle penetrations, a lot of short corners and didn’t convert as many as we would have liked.

“We were in the match for probably 70, 80 per cent of it. There are no major concerns from that game.”

At this stage, only 10 points separate the top six teams on the ladder and a case can be made for just about all of them to be fighting for a top-three spot and a second chance come finals time. 

Any matches between any of those six teams are going to be crucial in deciding the final standings at the end of the regular season.

“With the ladder being so congested every single point you can take from one of the other teams in that mix is important,” Bright said.

“Wanderers do have a lot of good players, their strength probably lies in their mid-field with [ex-Souths star] Matt Johnson and Keiran Gentles who has experience in Sydney first grade.

“We let in five goals last week but I think our defence has been pretty good all season, Panthers scored most of their goals through short corners, so that isn’t something that worries us.

“Aside from Kerrod Ferguson we are basically at full strength and at home, so it is a good opportunity to get an important win.”

Souths host Wanderers from 3.20pm.