ON the afternoon of May 14 as St Pat’s sat in the sheds after losing to men’s Premier League Hockey rivals Souths, their disappointment was further exacerbated as they had to listen to the two blues sing their victory song.

It is not something that Saints midfielder Josh Toole wants to hear again this Sunday afternoon.

St Pat’s go into what will be the third meeting between the rivals this season sitting on top of the competition ladder, but they will arguably be the underdogs.

After a bright start to the season, the Saints have had their struggles. Since losing 2-1 to Souths, they narrowly avoided an upset against the winless Dubbo Lions, had a comfortable win over strugglers Bathurst City, drawn with Orange Wanderers and last Saturday went down 4-2 to Lithgow Panthers.

Their usually strong penalty corner battery has not been on song, the Saints converting one of six attempts against Panthers and two of 10 against Wanderers.

In contrast Souths posted a 22-0 win – a near Premier League record – against Bathurst City last Saturday.

Toole is adamant Souths won’t have as much joy in front of goal against his Saints, but he also knows he and his team-mates need to lift.

“We lost quite a lot of players from last year and everyone’s still working out what their roles are. Losing a fair chunk of the core of the team I’d say is the reason we’re struggling, but hopefully in a few weeks we’ll click,” Toole said.

“It has been frustrating because we know our potential and we haven’t been hitting that potential. It’s just a matter of having confidence in each other, but it won’t all just fall into place, we know we’ve got to work for it and strive together.

“It’s important we play well against Souths this weekend.”

Having beaten Souths 3-1 in April, the ledger between the Bathurst rivals this season is split at one apiece. But if St Pat’s lose to the two blues again on Sunday, they could slip from first to third.

Though that would by no means be reason to panic, but the Saints are keen to prove they are the best Bathurst side in the competition.

“Every time we play against Souths we want to beat them. In the last game we lost to them we had to listen as they belted out their team song pretty loudly, so we want to get one back on them,” Toole said.

“They hadn’t beat us in a fair while and it hurt losing to them last time. We don’t like losing to those guys and they don’t like losing to us.

“To win the comp you have got to be the best team in your town, so we need to beat them.

“I think things will come together for us, we just need to keep working at it.”

St Pat’s get their chance to better their local rivals from 1pm on Sunday at Bob Roach Field.