HOCKEY
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MORE than halfway through the season, Bathurst City have only managed to find the back of the net 16 times from eight games in women’s Premier League Hockey.
That’s the good news for the rest of the teams in the competition.
The bad news? They still sit second on the ladder.
The perennial finalists and 2015 runners-up have been nowhere near their best for most of the current season according to representative star Casey Bayliss.
But in yet another demonstration of just how good they are at finding ways to get a positive result, City still trail only Lithgow Panthers in the current standings.
City’s position is based almost entirely on their defensive prowess, given that they are averaging 0.75 goals against them per match.
Today they face Bathurst rivals Souths who are in a desperate situation at this stage. They sit four points outside the top five and have just two wins to their name.
Bayliss said that time is running out for her team to hit top gear, but they would love to see it today.
“We are still waiting to produce our best,” she said.
“We’ve been struggling to get our top side on the field throughout the season, but we are getting there now. We are close to full-strength this weekend and we are at a stage of the season now where we need all the wins we can get.
“The teams behind us aren’t far away.
“We have struggled to put goals away, there’s no escaping that, so it would be great if we could come out and earn a big scoreline against Souths.
“We owe a lot to our defence, our goalkeeper Maddie Tattersall has been sensational and has played a huge role in how we’ve gone so far this season.”
As a side that hasn’t missed a finals series in its decade-long history, City have an ingrained ability to win or at the very least draw matches in which they haven’t been fluent.
Bayliss said it is a big endorsement of their young players at the moment, who have been able to help the side make a quick transition after losing a number of experienced talents in the last couple of years.
“The competition is pretty good in that you don’t always know who is going to bring what to the table, but it is generally a bit of a given that Panthers will be in the mix and City will be pretty strong,” Bayliss said.
“There is an expectation in our group now that we will get the job done. We’ve got a lot of new faces this year, but we’re very fortunate that they have made a good jump up to this standard.
“Souths are in a bit of a rebuilding year, but they’ve got some great young players and they will get there. They need a good win, I just hope they can wait another week to get it.”
City meet Souths at Bob Roach Field from 12.20pm.