BELIEVE.
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That’s the message Orange Wanderers player-coach Matt Johnson sent to his troops ahead of Saturday’s do-or-die men’s Premier League Hockey match-up against Bathurst St Pat’s, at Cooke Hockey Complex.
With four regular season games left including this weekend Wanderers have to defeat the reigning champions on Saturday to keep their finals hopes alive, for Johnson it’s that simple.
“We spoke about it before [last weekend’s loss to Lithgow Panthers],” Johnson said, immediately following that game.
“We said in the last five rounds we could probably afford to drop one game, that’s it, and we did [against Lithgow] so we have to win all the other games now.
“Last time we played St Pat’s I think, and they’d probably say the same, they were lucky to come away with a draw so we can do it.
“I think it’s just about belief for us.”
Wanderers found an early 2-0 lead against Panthers last week but couldn’t put the game to bed, instead conceding five unanswered goals to succumb by three goals.
The situation was much the same against St Pat’s last time around.
With Wanderers leading 2-1 it took a Jaden Ekert strike 31 seconds from full-time for St Pat’s to get back to level pegging, which ultimately helped the Bathurst side take something from the round 11 game.
“I’m not really sure what it is but I guess it’s obvious we haven’t really been able to finish games off at times,” Johnson said.
“We could make the excuse that we have a lot of young guys in our side and the lack of experience shows in those situations but they’ve been doing a wonderful job and we also have plenty of older heads.
“I think it’s definitely our responsibility to take control in those situations and keep us in our structures and that sort of thing.
“I think the situation we’re in, having the simple equation of just needing to win, does give us a bit of freedom, maybe takes the pressure off a bit.
“We’ve got the chance now to go out and play some enterprising hockey.
“We’ll really need to take the bull by the horns in these last few games. Take them on, play some enterprising hockey and get the job done.”
Wanderers travel to Bathurst to take on St Pat’s, the game kicks off at 3.20pm.
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.
