HOCKEY
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IF there was an award given to the most frustrated coach in men's Premier League Hockey at the moment, surely it would belong to Bathurst City's Kevin Sherman.
On Saturday afternoon he watched on as his side produced a period of hockey which was their best since joining the competition last year, before they fell away in the second half to suffer a 9-0 loss to Lithgow Panthers.
Typically Sherman tried to remain positive in his assessment, but he did admit to feeling a measure of frustration as well.
"I think they just ran out of puff that second half. That last 15-20 minutes we just dropped off, but before that we were with them nearly the whole game," he said.
"We've just got to put goals in. We had chances there to score, we created plenty, but we have got to put them in to stop seeing that nil.
"It is frustrating, it shouldn't have got to that [9-0]. But in the second half it was just fatigue and loose passes, not holding onto the ball."
Five minutes into Saturday's match at Bob Roach Field the Panthers opened their account as Ron Charlton found the mark off a penalty corner play.
When Greg Nelson, who was left unmarked on the left post, slotted another for the visitors shortly after, it looked as if City were headed for another heavy loss at the hands of last year's grand finalists.
But instead of falling away, City actually lifted.
Jayden Hunt sent an attempt over the crossbar after he had run hard to get in position to meet a cross, while a Blake Davis effort flashed across the face of goal when City attacked down the left wing.
From their first - and only - penalty corner of the match, City came agonisingly close to scoring as Panthers goalkeeper Adrian Baker managed to get his stick to the ball as it dribbled towards the line.
Davis and Hunt both threatened again as they sent in shots which required saving as City enjoyed a period of dominance against one of the heavyweights of the men's competition.
The problem for City was they had no reward to show for it.
That hurt the hosts even more when Panthers found a third goal with three minutes of the half remaining. Tom Scott managed to block Jake Lewis' initial attempt, but Nic Milne was first to the deflected ball and powered his shot into the backboard.
City were still relatively happy when they returned to the dugout and for the opening stages of the second half, they did well to repel Lithgow. Scott at one stage made a triple block in the same passage of play.
But as the game drew inside the final 20 minutes, City dropped off and Panthers punished them.
Nelson found his second with 19 left on the clock and four minutes later Tom Piggott added his name to the scoresheet as he capitalised on a fast break.
Charlton struck once more from a penalty corner - Panthers' ninth of the match - Lewis added a seventh less than a minute later while in the final four minutes Milne and Piggott blew the scoreline out to 9-0.
LITHGOW PANTHERS 9 (Ron Charlton 2, Nic Milne 2, Tom Piggott 2, Greg Nelson 2, Jake Lewis) defeated BATHURST CITY 0