That was exactly what Souths did in the second half of Saturday’s men’s Premier League Hockey match against Orange Wanderers to come away with an impressive 8-1 victory.

Having drawn with Parkes a week earlier when letting missed chances frustrate them, this time Souths’ players remained focused after being locked at 1-all at the break.

The second half at Bob Roach Field featured crisp passing movements, good work off the ball and some impressive finishing.

“First half we hit the post three times, so the score could have been a bit different. But the structure got better as the game went on, the guys linked with the midfield better in the second half, which open it up and allowed us to attack better,” Souths coach Ray Winwood-Smith said.

“The biggest things we were looking for this week was patience and possession and I think we did a lot better this week than what we did last week even though we were in a similar situation at 1-all at half-time.

“We could’ve panicked, we didn’t, we held and the goals came as the game went on.”

It was Wanderers – a team fighting to keep its finals aspirations alive – who was first on the board when Adam Skelton scored from a penalty corner play in the 21^st minute.

But three out from half-time a smart long ball from Jono Baillie picked out an unmarked Jono Cole, whose subsequent reverse stick effort beat diving Wanderers goalkeeper Jakob Skelton.

It was Cole who gave Souths the lead five minutes into the second half and when Adam Campbell struck from a penalty corner soon after, momentum was with the two blues.

Two more goals came in quick succession as the gap opened and it could have been more, Skelton making a good block to hold out an Andrew Cranston rocket.

The goalkeeper was given no chance 12 out from the break when Campbell stepped up to take a penalty stroke, his well-placed effort making it 6-1.

Good leads off the ball and quick transfers continued to cause Wanderers’ defence headaches, Baillie the next to find the mark when he was given space on the right post.

The win was iced 14 seconds from time as Nick McEwen made it a brace for the match.

“That short game, playing angles and linking that midfield as our strikers push forward, that gave us the opportunity to stretch and get in behind the defence and that gave our attackers space to do what they needed to do,” Winwood-Smith said.

While Wanderers coach Mark Pengilly was disappointed his side was unable to emulate its first half effort after the break, he remained upbeat.

“They certainly came out a lot stronger in that second half and got on top of us a little bit. We just fell away from our game plan,” he said.

“We spoke about that, we need to be playing 70 minutes of hockey, not 35 minutes. But in saying that, we’re a young side, we’re rebuilding.

“There is definitely still plenty to play for. We want to get better and better and make it harder for the other teams.”