IT may not have been the slickest of performances, but Bathurst City’s 2-1 away win against Parkes on Saturday handed it the women’s Premier League Hockey minor premiership.
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City went into the match sitting two points clear of closest rivals Lithgow Panthers, having tasted defeat just once through the 13 prior rounds.
As Panthers drew 2-all with Confederates and City did enough to beat Parkes, the Bathurst outfit ensured it would host the first grand final qualifier.
“We are minor premiers, so that’s pretty exciting, but the road’s not over. It’s not good to be minor premiers if you don’t finish as premiers,” City coach Lisa Quinn said.
“It’s a small win now, but still not the big picture.”
City opened the scoring in the first half with a deflection from a penalty corner play, the visitors then doubling their lead after the break when Andrea Seymour scored from a penalty stroke.
Inside the final five minutes Parkes also converted from the spot after being awarded a stroke, but City held on to win.
“It was a fairly close match and in all honesty, it was a fairly scrappy match, there were seven cards,” Quinn said. “There were a couple of chances through the game that we missed, so we need to polish up for the future.
“Kelsey Willott got hit in the finger in the first half, so we lost her straight away … her finger’s split. We had a couple of other injuries through the game, Tirah Jarvis hurt her knee and Hannah Evans did a shoulder, we were juggling players around and it was just a little bit messy.”
