Uni coach hoses down Canterbury star’s talk

UNIVERSITY coach Paul Ancher has hit out against talk of Canterbury threatening its top-four position ahead of their match at 6pm today.

Canterbury’s leading goal scorer Sam McCulloch had said the Lions believed they could do anything this season.

“We have the belief now and know that we are a team that deserves to finish in the top four, so we focus on im- proving each week and jumping University on the ladder,” McCulloch said.

The Lions are in form after scoring twice late to draw 5-5 with second-placed OHA last week and can jump University with a win under lights.

But Ancher isn’t getting caught up on talk of finishing positions just yet, claiming it’s too early in the season.

“Sam is excitable as they’re playing some decent hockey early in the season, which is a contrast to how Canterbury has gone in recent years. That’s great for them and it’s good for the competition,” Ancher hit back.

“We’ve also been playing some decent hockey and only have our own finishing to blame for not beating NorthWest Grads last Saturday and Derwent three weeks ago.

“We’ve taken some positive steps in altering our playing style to be more aggressive and now need to be more clinical in our attack to take advantage of our good play. “

Both sides are unchanged, with McCulloch sure to be a targeted man after a dominant start to the season individually.

North-West Graduates are hot favourites to extend their winning run to six matches when they tackle DiamondBacks at 3pm.

The ladder leaders welcome back Graham Brennan for his first match of the season, while the Maroons are likely to be without injured midfielder Hayden Beltz.

Separated by just one point, intrigue surrounds OHA’s clash with Derwent at 4.30pm.

It was a fiery encounter that ended with a string of yellow cards and the Ships sealing a come-from-behind 4-3 victory last time out.

Derwent welcomes back skipper Vaughn Bowen and Tom Broadby at the expense of Linden McCarthy and Sam Porteous-Smith for the match.