An A-grade shock as Souths beat Stingers
LAST has knocked off first in a crazy weekend of A-grade men’s hockey action, setting the tone for another impossible-to-tip 2018 season.
Souths have had little to show for their efforts so far this season but shocked Stingers 4-2 on Saturday night.
South Australian recruit John Gibson got on the scoresheet as part of the comefrom-behind victory having trailed 2-1 at halftime.
But coach Jason Fowler said it was those young players who had done the hard yards together in what had been a fruitless season who stepped up to realise their A-grade potential for 2018.
“The younger fellas have been building. Liam Whipp, his defence has been outstanding and we’re just starting to close teams down at the back and not give them as many opportunities compared to the beginning of the year,” he said.
“We were just good all around the park. We scored a goal early, then they got two
Souths 5 (Patrice Butler 2, McKeely Sullivan, Thea Lazarus, Heather Morris goals) d Stingers 2 (Carleah Flinders, Michelle Whap goals) Saints 2 (Teneal Kelly 2
Brothers 1 (Jade quick goals before halftime ... and I think they probably thought they were back and then our boys, I gave them some pointers to follow in the second half and they executed that really well, and we ran over the top of them in the end.
“Wes (Ferns, co-coach) was proud, I was proud and the boys were pumped.
“The Irishman, Peter Bingham, I reckon that’s about as excited as I’ve seen him. He didn’t want to go home without a win and the fact we’ve got it in five and not 18 or 19 is good for him.
“It’s a good feeling considering where we started the first three weeks of the year. I didn’t think it was going to come then. But we’re still on the bottom and we’ve got work to do.”
It was a great weekend allround for Souths with the club’s A-grade women winning 5-2 and the B-grade men coming close to a breakthrough win.
Stingers co-coach Aaron Wilkes, who pleasingly struck a short-corner goal past fellow import Bingham during the match, said the loss was a good opportunity to improve.
“It’s not ideal, because we’ve been knocked off the top now and Saints have gone above us, which is never nice to see,” he said.
“Everyone wants to put right and get back on top.”
Stingers missed Rowan Sparkes and Kyle Richardson but Wilkes said it wasn’t an excuse for the defeat.
“On the day they wanted it more than we did,” he said.
“It might give us the kick we need to keep working hard.”
In another shock, Saints smashed Brothers 4-0, while in the A-grade women it was 2-1 to Saints.
Cairns teams travel to Townsville for the Hawthorn Shield next weekend.
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