Tough test for Grads

CANTERBURY surprised the men’s Premier League competition in Round 1 with a strong 2-1 defeat of University and will take confidence into their clash with North-West Graduates at 3pm.

Co-captain Simon O’Conor and midfielder Brenton Watson both missed the win but O’Conor said the team took a lot of satisfaction from their positive start.

“Everyone was pretty happy with the win because Uni are obviously a good team after playing in the grand final last year,” he said.

Graduates weren’t at their best in a 2-0 defeat of OHA, with coach Stephen McMullen labelling it an “ugly win”.

“We didn’t play our best hockey, but the positives were that OHA had two shots to our 13, so we were never really threatened,” McMullen said.

“We have made quite a few structural changes, so I felt the game was more about players finding themselves and their new roles.”

He saw positive signs in Gobind Gill and Alistair White’s performances, and the contribution of new additions Lewis Short and Aaron Jacobson.

Derwent will face OHA in an intriguing fixture at 4.30pm, with James Lambert returning in goals for the Strikers. OHA will field an unchanged line up and coach Nick Leslie is aiming to fine-tune some tactics in attack to provide greater potency.

University will start favourites against DiamondBacks at 6pm but will be forced to go without established quartet James Dick, Will Mollross, Simon Clifford and Jonno Hodgson.

Talented utility Josh Brooks returns from injury, while the Maroons regain Bryce Blacklow.