IT was closer than they would have liked, but Bathurst City still got the competition points they were after on Saturday afternoon as they beat the Dubbo Blue Jays 3-2 at Bob Roach Field.
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On paper victory looked an easy task as the Blue Jays sat last on the ladder without a win to their name, but Dubbo managed to frustrate City.
While dominating in terms of shots, City only led 2-1 at half-time.
Dubbo refused to give in and even had a penalty corner with five seconds remaining which could have locked the scores.
“They always make us work for it, they made us work for it last time and they made us work for it this time – good on them,” Bathurst City coach Lisa Quinn said.
“They came out fighting a lot harder than what I thought they would. They had nothing to lose and we had a lot to lose.”
For Dubbo coach Jane Thompson, the performance had plenty of positives.
Goalkeeper Sammy Lincoln was superb – at one stage making a triple block – while Chantelle Warner cleared another attempt off the line.
Emily Lake and Phoebe Bloink Hollier both drew some sharp saves from City goalkeeper Maddy Tattersall as Dubbo looked dangerous on the counter-attack.
...they did a great job and showed a lot of determination to stay in the game, I was really proud of them to play out the 70 minutes.
- Jane Thompson
“We turned the ball over a couple of times and the other team were able to convert,” Thompson said.
“We had to change our game plan before the game because we lost a couple of players, so the girls had to adjust to that pretty quickly.
“But they did a great job and showed a lot of determination to stay in the game, I was really proud of them to play out the 70 minutes.”
City opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Bree Lovekin pounced on a deflection, but Dubbo got back on equal terms thanks to a nice piece of individual skill from Bloink Hollier.
Lincoln continued to deny City with a string of top saves, but finally the hosts managed a second six minutes out from half-time with a slick reverse shot from Casey Bayliss.
Bayliss played a role in City’s third goal 10 minutes after play resumed when she found Quinn unmarked on the back post.
Quinn’s deflection found the mark to make it 3-1, but Dubbo were not yet done.
Courtney Hogan fired her shot from a penalty corner into the bottom left corner of the goal from their fourth attempt at the set play to make it game on at 3-2.
City did have some nervous moments as the clock ran down, but they held on.
