HOCKEY
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SOUTHS produced a great escape with just three minutes to spare to take out Saturday's men's Premier League Hockey minor semi-final 2-1 over Orange Wanderers.
Bryce Hitchcock's diving effort to get past Wanderers goalkeeper Darrel Kennewell broke the 1-all stalemate and sent Souths to a preliminary final against the Lithgow Panthers this coming Saturday.
Wanderers looked the more imposing side for the majority of the contest at Bob Roach Field, but Souths did just enough in defence to keep their season alive.
It only took eight minutes for the two blues to put themselves in front as Adam Campbell punished Wanderers for failing to clear the ball after a blocked penalty corner attempt.
Matt Johnson levelled it up in the second half with a penalty stroke which was awarded after the ball struck a Souths defender on the line.
It took Hitchcock's late goal to separate the pair, his effort seeing Wanderers exit the title race.
"We had our chances, but they mean nothing unless you put them in the net. Their keeper put the pressure on us and made us make the mistakes in front of goal," Souths coach Dale Campbell said.
"We made it harder on ourselves. In the first half we didn't treat them with enough respect given their ability to pressure us and take the game away from us."
Campbell said his team could count themselves lucky to have led Wanderers 1-0 at half-time.
"I thought we were extremely lucky to be where we were at one-up," he said.
"We did change our attack around a bit to try and get something happening up front. We did play better in the last 15 minutes, throwing the ball around as requested at the start of the day.
"I'll still definitely take a one-goal win."
While Souths had finished the regular season higher on the ladder, it was Wanderers who looked hungrier in the opening half and better controlled play through the midfield.
As Souths struggled to clear from defence Wanderers earned back-to-back penalty corners and came close again when a Hayden Dillon break down the right wing couldn't be finished off Connor Morris.
Though trailing by a goal, the Orange side took all the momentum into the break and they picked up where they left off as the second stanza began.
Johnson's penalty stroke which levelled the scores at 1-all was a fitting reward for Wanderers.
Troy Kenny then defused a golden scoring opportunity for Wanderers with 20 minutes to go as he cleared the ball from a two-against-one situation near the circle.
The last 15 minutes belonged to Souths, who appeared to have more energy left in reserve and started to make circle penetrations more frequently.
As the game was threatened to go into extra-time, Hitchcock found space to move at the top of the circle, cutting to his right and making the most of his chance.
"Execution at the critical moments let us down a bit at both ends of the field. We created a lot through the midfield, but didn't finish it. In saying that, they created a lot of opportunities too but they often came on the back of our little mistakes," Wanderers coach Peter Shea said.
"We've got something like nine to 10 under 18s in our side, so for us to get to semi-finals is a big step, and to play that way in a semi-final is also a great tribute to the way the team's developed over the season."
SOUTHS 2 (Adam Campbell, Bryce Hitchcock) defeated ORANGE WANDERERS 1 (Matt Johnson)