ORANGE Ex-Services rallied late in their women’s Premier League Hockey clash on Saturday but ultimately fell short against a spirited Bathurst St Pat’s 2-1.

A goal early in each half got the hosts out to a 2-0 lead before Shian Duboc’s poke home from close range with 16 minutes to spare made things interesting.

Ex-Services couldn’t convert their late chances and Pat’s were left to cheer their sixth win of the season from nine games.

The win moves Pat’s into third spot on the table, four points clear of Ex-Services after both teams went into the match level on the ladder.

“They [Ex-Services] picked up their game a lot in the second half so for us to still get that win, I’m really proud of the girls today,” Pat’s captain Kristy Ekert said.

“The young players stepped up brilliantly for us today. The last couple of years we’ve been building up towards that and now they’re going great.

“I think our defence was really great. We’ve been working hard on that, and our short corner defence, and I think we can be proud of the way we played there.”

Ekert got her team off the mark after just six minutes when she tidied up a deflection in her team’s second penalty corner of the match.

Towards the end of the half Ex-Services began to enjoy the bigger slice of the possession pie, creating several dangerous moments for Pat’s through Chloe Barrett and Madie Smith.

Rebecka Byrnes came close to levelling the scores inside the last minute of the half but was dispossessed cleanly just in front of goal.

Just eight minutes into the new half Pat’s doubled their advantage through Ella Menzies.

Menzies got on the end of a long ball behind the Orange defence and pumped her shot into the top of the goal. 

Duboc got the margin back to one and Ex-Services looked more threatening than before.

Their best opportunity to level the scores came in the final five minutes.

Steph Wilson had a one-on-one chance against Pat’s goalkeeper Tracey Gunning but her pass back into the centre of the circle was cut out.

“We probably could have put about 10 per cent more into that first half to really try and get the ball rolling. If we played the whole game like we played that last 20 minutes then we probably could have won that or at least got a draw,” Ex-Services captain Leanne Kennewell said.

“We’ve been pretty flat lately. There’s quite a few illnesses and a few players out. It’s this time of year it always happens, so at least we’re consistent there,” she joked.

BATHURST ST PAT’S 2 (Kristy Ekert, Ella Menzies) def ORANGE EX-SERVICES 1 (Shian Duboc).