The Hockey Albury-Wodonga Spitfires women responded to last week’s narrow defeat with a solid 2-0 win against North Canberra Eagles at Albury Hockey Centre on Saturday.
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Chloe Jones spent some time up front and put the hosts in front with a penalty stroke in the first-half, before Hayley Hutchinson doubled the advantage in the last 20 minutes of the game.
Spitfires’ coach Jerry Sutherland said his side was on top for most of the day.
“We’re on track to where I thought we’d be,” Sutherland said.
“Everyone held up and did what they had to do, which was good.
“The game really should have been four or five-nil our way, we had a lot of scoring opportunities.
“Sam Campbell in goals probably touched the ball about a third of the time than the first two games.
“Our defence kept them out and we had the shots on, we just need to start converting a few of them.”
Riley Sutherland and co-captain Shae Billingsley were the standouts on the day, while the only injury concern was for Summer Sutherland who was hit in the head by a high ball and received a nasty cut.
The Spitfires men suffered a 2-0 loss to competition leaders Wests.
Co-coach Jeremy Payne admitted the score didn’t reflect the way his side played and he took plenty of positives from it.
“We held them to 0-0 at half-time with plenty of chances in the first half to score, but we didn’t quite get one,” Payne said.
“It was pretty hard-fought in the first half in a very quick game.
“The second half we had a lapse in the first 10 minutes and they scored early.
“They scored their second goal off a short corner late in the half with eight minutes to go, which sealed the victory for them.
“The boys fought right till the end trying to put a goal in.”
Midfielder Oscar Smart impressed in the midfield, while goalkeeper Patrick Baine was at his best with a number of great saves.
Meanwhile, in Hockey-Albury Wodonga division one women, Falcons scored a 4-0 win against United, Norths split the points with Wodonga in a 2-2 draw, while Magpies were far too strong for Wombats-Beechworth, winning 5-1.
In the men’s games, Norths had a 0-0 draw with Wodonga, Falcons outclassed United 3-1, while Wombats and Magpies finished at 1-1.