Parkes United mens hockey team travel to Bathurst tomorrow for their first look at the new Bathurst City team.
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While City have been competitive in patches against their opponents so far this season, like United they are yet to record a win.
United came very close last Saturday against Lithgow Panthers.
They led 2-0 with 15 minutes remaining only for two late goals from Panthers seeing the points shared.
Parkes will be near full strength with almost the exact same lineup that pushed the reigning premiers last week.
Nathan Munday drops out of the side due to work commitments and Dooley Thomson is out with a shoulder injury.
They will be replaced by Matt Job who is returning from umpiring duties at the Under 15s State Championships while Cooper Byrnes will man the goals.
Parkes will be on the lookout for any surprises with the City an unknown quantity.
“After a step in the right direction last week against Panthers, this week gives us a good opportunity to build on that with a solid performance against the new Bathurst team,” captain Dan Wilson said.
“We will be looking to come out and start strongly as we need to control possession the same as we did last week.
“Regan Hotham and Pete Amor really controlled the midfield last week and that allowed us to sustain the attack on Panthers.
“We need to take the chances that we created last week and start to convert some of them into goals.
“Defensively we were solid last week except for the final five minutes.
“We didn’t allow many circle penetrations or short corners which was a real positive,” he said.
Tomorrow’s game starts in Bathurst at 3.20pm.
Likely Parkes United mens team is - Cooper Byrnes, Ben Townsend, Ben Hawken, Dan Wilson, Tim Somers, Regan Hotham, Pete Amor, Aaron Thorne, Brad Gardiner, Mitch Townsend, Andrew Bourke, Mitch Ward and Matt Job.
