SOUTHS became the first team this season to beat St Pat’s in men’s Premier League Hockey, posting a 3-2 victory at Bob Roach Field on Saturday.
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In match that had the intensity expected of a derby, Souths survived a pressure-filled final 20 minutes as St Pat’s pushed for an equaliser.
Though the result has not changed the ladder – St Pat’s remains first and Souths third – two blues coach Ray Winwood-Smith felt it was an important for his side with one round now remaining until finals.
“It was intense, it was lots of passion and the thing that pleased me the most was that we played 70 minutes of hockey, not just a half of hockey,” he said.
“It was always going to be a tough game and one with passion, so at the end of the day, that’s the one you want to win leading into the finals.
“It does mean a lot to the boys. Local derby first off but two, we’ve probably put ourselves under a bit pressure over the last couple of weeks because we’ve not been playing consistently.
“The excitement at the end of the game was yeah, we won, but it was more of the fact now that we can actually do it.”
Souths made some positional changes for the match – Matt Johnston playing wider while Daniel Carter swung from centre forward into centre half – and it worked well.
Johnston opened scoring in the third minute from a penalty corner play, blasting the ball into the right of the net.
Souths continued to create chances as Carter, Jono Baillie and Jono Cole all threatened, some good work from Pat’s goalkeeper Taylor Newton and defender Prakesh Titheridge required to shut them down.
However, when Souths earned a fourth penalty corner, Johnston struck again to give his side a 2-0 lead.
It was a good start for Souths, but five minutes into the second half the Saints showed that any win would have to be hard earned.
Brent Naylor found the mark off the Saints’ first penalty corner to make it 2-1.
Five minutes later Keiran Gentles attacked along the baseline and found space to slot home Souths’ third, but Pat’s replied quickly as Darcy Davis deflected the ball in off a penalty corner.
That made it 3-2 with 20 minutes remaining and the chances continued to come down both ends.
However, both Newton and his Souths opposite John Rudge came up with some super saves to see no further additions to the score.
Four green cards and a pair of yellows were show for the 70 minutes.
“Pat’s are a quality side and did well today, but we did what we needed to do to win the game,” Winwood-Smith said.
“The changes that we made worked, the boys executed well and we had some of them in positions they don’t normally play.
“What we talked about at training, what we talked about before the game, the boys executed 100 percent.
“Leading into the semis its about us finding consistency and that’s what we showed today. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys.
“I said before we played if it was not the best game of the season it would be one of them and it was.”