In form and ready to end two-year hoodoo against OHA

RIDING high off the back of four consecutive wins, North West Graduates will look to beat OHA for the first time since Round 7, 2020, in the women’s Premier Hockey League on Saturday.

It’s a run of 10 consecutive losses since Louisa Jacobson’s late penaltycorner goal earned Graduates a tight 1-0 victory exactly 700 days ago.

Graduates coach Josh Mardell conceded his side won’t be at full strength as he concentrates on having it peak at the business end of the season.

“As always, I want the girls to stick to our own game plan and prove we can take on the top side with the top players they have, by playing a team game,” Mardell said.

“I also want to make sure we peak at the right time, as we have got that wrong the last couple of seasons (referring to Graduates’ straight-sets finals exits).

“Ashleigh Arthur had been brilliant for us recently, and I expect goalkeeper Kacee Ponting will have to make sure she is on form as usual.”

OHA could be vulnerable because it remains without Premier League stars Maddy Murphy and Maddi Brooks for the top-of-thetable match as they are leading the competition goalscoring charts.

The Ships have recalled Christabelle Moore, with Bree Macaulay also expected to miss, placing pressure on OHA forward Julia Gunn to fire.

“It’s never easy having players unavailable due to injury or other commitments, but we just have to do the best we can with the team on the day,” OHA coach Sam McCambridge said.

“We have no excuses as we have the team and depth to cover our outs this week.

“We will be looking to keep improving on our results in the attacking 25, with it not being as good as we’d like in previous weeks.

“We haven’t had the same line-up consistently yet this year, but will be eager to get everyone available heading into the finals.”

In the other top-four clash, Derwent meets DiamondBacks from 10.30am.

University will be looking for its first win of the season against the fifth-placed Canterbury from 6pm.