Orange Wanderers produced a third stellar performance in as many games to down men’s Premier League Hockey contenders Lithgow Zig Zag in the upset of the season last weekend.
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Wanderers’ midfield stepped up and the side finished clinically to secure a 5-2 victory at Lithgow on Saturday afternoon, handing the third-placed Ziggies their second defeat of the season.
After a somewhat sloppy start to 2017, in their last three outings Wanderers have pushed competition-leaders Bathurst St Pat’s to the brink of defeat, kept pace with reigning champions Lithgow Panthers and now accounted for Zig Zag.
“It’s really, really pleasing,” Wanderers coach Mark Pengilly enthused.
“Especially considering that win was in Lithgow, it’s not easy playing down there.
“We’ve really, really come along this season. We’ve pushed the top two sides and now beaten Zig Zag, who have been going along really well this season, so it’s great to see us continuing to improve and getting some consistency.”
Combined with Bathurst Souths’ 4-all draw with Parkes United, the win moves the Orange side within two victories of the top four.
Wanderers, fifth, are six points adrift of the fourth-placed two blues.
But, Pengilly said his side isn’t getting ahead of itself.
“We were speaking on [Saturday night], our win and Souths’ draw certainly makes things a bit closer but I think we’d still have to win the rest of our games to really have a chance at the top four,” he said.
“There is a chance there and we’d love to sneak into the finals, but we’ll just keep trying to improve each week and win a few more. If we get there, it’ll be a bonus.”
Zig Zag hit the lead early in Saturday’s clash, in the first couple of minutes in fact.
“They scored a really quick one and I think a few people would’ve though ‘oh, well, here we go’,” Pengilly said.
“But we got that one back, Lukey Skelton scored, and the boys clawed back into it, took control of the game and ran away with it a bit at the end.”
Tom Reddan, Mike Pengilly, Adam Skelton and Gerry Shea all found the back of the net for Wanderers as well.
“It was just a really good performance,” Pengilly said.
“Alex Said played very well, Adam Hurford and Tommy Peacock really took control at the back and our midfield stepped up as well.”
- ORANGE WANDERERS 5 (Luke Skelton, Adam Skelton, Gerry Shea, Mike Pengilly, Tom Reddan) def LITHGOW ZIG ZAG 2
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.
