After narrowly defeating Souths in May, Zig Zag came off badly on Saturday, June 23, when the premier league front runners travelled to Lithgow.
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The 6-1 result was not for a lack of trying.
Ziggies defended strongly and made ample opportunities up front, but struggled to find the back of the net.
“It’s been our biggest problem this year. We just can’t seem to score and get results up the front,” co-captain Zac Sharp said.
“We were just a bit slow I suppose, we couldn’t hold the ball up the front.”
Souths coach Jaydem Hadson was delighted his team were able to execute a Zig Zag-style victory on the team’s home turf.
“I think it was just fantastic we were able to come down here, when we notoriously start slow, and be able to start at the pace we wanted to and get the early goals,” Hadson said.
“We’ve come down here many times and Zig Zag have ambushed us and they’ve ended up three-up straight away.
“So to start four-up was the best thing about coming down here today.”
Persistent pressure in the goal circle saw Ziggies facing six Souths penalty corners in the first half.
The first conversion for Souths was seven minutes in, by Adam Campbell, with a second from Jono Cole.
Ziggies looked to bite back when Eli Shirt broke away on the twenty minute mark but a shot by Taylor Tattersall was blocked. A second Ziggies attempt missed.
While Souths struggled to convert further penalty corners, a successful penalty stroke from Daniel Carter and a field goal from Nick McEwan put the opposition four points ahead of the scoreless Zig Zag at the end of the first half.
After an inordinate amount of work, Ziggies got themselves onto the scoreboard.
A skirmish in the goal circle ten minutes into the final half, which saw two Ziggies’ attempts blocked, gave way to the team’s first penalty corner. It was converted by Luke Sheppard on the rebound.
Relief was short-lived as Jono Bailie scored a fifth goal for Souths, and a third penalty corner conversion for the team was executed by Daniel Carter.
Sharp said “easy errors” allowed Souths to capitalise on penalties.
“But they [Zig Zag] were passing the ball up the back well,” he said.
“We didn’t get to use the midfield that much because they marked us pretty hard in there.”
He commended the performance of Eli Shirt.
“He played well up front there and did a fair bit of running.”
Souths’ Hadson praised his team’s display in defence.
“Ben [Craig], Jye Bunt, Adam Campbell, that triangle up back just meant we knew we could structure up front,” he said.
