HOCKEY
IF you had asked a bookmaker six months ago what odds you could get on Ex-Services being Orange’s last remaining hope for a senior Central West sporting premiership, they would have let you write your own ticket.
And if they had, there’s a fair chance they would not be sleeping for the rest of the week after the blue and golds snapped a nine-year hoodoo against Souths with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the Bathurst club in Saturday’s women’s Premier League Hockey minor semi-final at the Orange Hockey Centre.
Bloomfield’s loss in the men’s minor semi-final and Orange Tigers’ defeat at the hands of Bathurst in the Central West AFL now means Ex-Services are the city’s only remaining hope for premiership glory in 2008.
In a physical encounter, a goal in each half proved enough for Ex-Services to book a showdown with St Pat’s in this weekend’s grand final qualifier, as the home side secured their first-ever victory over Souths since the inception of PLH in 2000.
Ex-Services coach Gail Kennewell was delighted with her side’s commitment throughout the 70 minutes after watching her troops avoid a dreaded straight sets finals exit.
“It’s very exciting. The desperation of the girls ... they knew it was sudden-death and they knew they had to play hard and be desperate,” she said.
“We’ve created a bit of history here today (with the first win over Souths) - but we’ve been creating history all year.
“It was a great all-round team effort from the girls.”
Souths coach Grahame Cranston conceded his side was outplayed but called for more consistency from the match officials.
“Girls aren’t used to being tackled that hard and not having one card shown all game,” he said.
“It (the defence) was just too aggressive. You just want to see some consistency there.
“I thought we had a good chance coming into today’s game but we just couldn’t get a roll on. They scored early and we really struggled to get back into it after that.”
The home side started the match with great intensity and were rewarded just five minutes in when Tarlee Roberts broke through Souths’ defence before linking beautifully with Linda Wilson, who made no mistake from close range.
Ex-Services nearly doubled their advantage eight minutes later when star midfielder Jade Warrender struck the post from a penalty corner.
In a game of few opportunities, Warrender made the most of successive penalty corners 12 minutes into the second half, scraping home an innocuous shot past Souths keeper Amanda Harvey to double Ex-Services’ advantage.
Souths rarely threatened the home side’s defence until the dying stages when Ex-Services’ keeper Nat Parementer and defender Leanne Jones produced brilliant last-ditch saves to keep the opposition at bay.
For Ex-Services, defenders Leanne Kennewell and Ali Baker were outstanding in a committed team performance, while for Souths, Tahlia Cranston was a standout in a side that struggled to find its rhythm.
EX-SERVICES 2 (Linda Wilson, Jade Warrender) def SOUTHS 0.
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