Panthers fall to Saints at Bathurst | Video, photos

And was no surprise given their 3-2 victory over Lithgow Panthers at Bob Roach Field was just the second time in four years the Saints had beaten the women’s Premier League Hockey heavyweights.

There were certainly tense moments in the 26 minutes after Premier League debutante Mackenzie Stewart put Panthers back within a goal, especially given they surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw the week before. But the Saints held on to earn the points.

“It was just having that match awareness, in the last five minutes I was seriously thinking ‘Not again’,” Pat’s coach Jaden Ekert said.

“But to our credit we held the ball this time. When we were attacking we kept our structure at the back, whereas last week we got too excited with go forward, go forward.

“It was a real – I know the season is early – but it was a turning point in terms of how good we can be. We’ve proven it and now we need to work off that.”

It took just three minutes for the Saints to find the mark on Saturday and it came from a piece of individual brilliance from Sarah Watterson.

She used her speed to get in behind the Panthers defence before producing a clinical reverse stick finish.

However, two minutes later the game was back on level terms as Panthers capitalised on their first chance of the match.

Amanda Saladine made a strong run from the centre of the field into the circle before finding Amelia Leard, who came up with the equaliser.

As the match unfolded the battle for possession across the field was intense – rarely did a player enjoy time and space on the ball.

For St Pat’s Watterson continued to threaten with her speed and came close from a penalty corner play, while Ruby Clarke drew a diving save from Panthers goalkeeper Jess Luchetti.

Panthers were unlucky when a Stewart effort was turned away by the pads of Lilli-Rai Campbell and it took a smart Lucy Weal block to deny their 20^th minute penalty corner effort.

With 45 seconds of the half remaining Pat’s finally moved into the lead again when Julie Hanman combined with Watterson to score.

Trailing 2-1 Panthers came out hard after the break, Leard sending some dangerous balls into the circle, but it was Pat’s who scored next.

At the 42 minute mark Clarke worked a nice exchange of passes with Watterson, who tucked her shot past a diving Luchetti to make it 3-1.

But as they had done in the first half, Panthers found a quick reply. This time it was Stewart who scored, diving in at the right post to score her first Premier League goal.

That effort set up a tense finish, but the closest Panthers got was when Saladine’s penalty corner strike with eight minutes left travelled just wide.

“We only conceded two short corners, that’s a good thing for our defensive unit. They pride themselves on work ethic and making sure they do the right things,” Ekert said.

While Panthers coach Dave Marshall was disappointed not to pick up a win which would have moved his side into the top two on the ladder, he still saw positives.

“It was a hard-fought game. I thought we played really well and dominated for the first 15 and then I thought Pat’s dominated for the rest of the first half,” Marshall said.

“Second half, I think Pat’s probably still had the better of the play.

“We’ve got eight or nine girls under 18 and had a couple out today, but no excuses, we weren’t good enough. 

“But we’ve got a long season ahead of us, we get our full team together with a couple of the older players coming back, that will help out.”