A MAN-OF-THE-MATCH performance from Adam Skelton coupled with a Nick Sharp double inspired Orange Wanderers to an easy three-goal victory over the winless Dubbo Lions on Saturday.
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Skelton’s electrifying performance earned him best and fairest honours from both umpires while Sharp scored goals either side of half-time, leading Wanderers to a 3-0 win which lifts the side back into the men’s Premier League Hockey top four.
“If you want to talk about breakout years for players, this is Adam Skelton’s,” Wanderers player-coach Matt Johnson said.
“He’s slotted into the midfield perfectly and is playing seriously good hockey. He’s probably one of the form players of the competition and Nicko, well he’s always strong.
“He grabbed a double and having his experience up front is really important for us. Alex Said and Zac Royle at the back were very good too, clean sheet, that’s what they want.”
The encounter certainly didn’t lack passion either, Johnson and Wanderers stalwart Adam Hurford were slapped with green and yellow cards respectively, while Dubbo’s Kyle McKenzie, Jarat Johnston and Luke Carmen all saw green as well during the 70 minutes.
“We actually really enjoy playing Dubbo, there was no niggle or anything like that it was just the competitive spirit coming out I think,” Johnson said.
“It was exactly the scrappy, grinding type of game we were expecting so to be able to get a win there without several of our senior players was really positive.
“We’re very pleased to come out of it with that win because I all but guarantee Dubbo will knock one of the top sides off in the back bit of the season.”
Johnson labelled the opening half hour of the game “a stalemate” before Sharp opened the scoring in the 31st minute.
Caiden Reddan scored Wanderers’ second goal moments before half-time and from there, the Orange side held its lead comfortably.
Sharp scored his second in the 45th minute.
“It was a real stalemate in the opening stages,”Johnson said.
“Both sides had their opportunities and both sides missed out.
“It was a real grind actually, Dubbo stuck it to us in that period.
“But after Nicko scored his first we started to get a bit of a roll-on. It was what we call a pure goal too. An intercept which he finished from the top of the circle.
“When your strikers are scoring those kinds of goals you know they’re in form.
“We were pretty comfortably from then on.”
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
