MELVILLE City Hockey Club took another important step to maintaining its Premier League status with a hard fought 2-0 win over bottom-placed North Coast Raiders in wintry conditions at Duracraft Stadium on Saturday night.
The winless Raiders entered the game needing a win to give them a mathematical chance of avoiding the relegation playoffs, while Melville went into the match needing a win to continue its climb to safety.
Melville created several early opportunities but desperate Raiders defence kept them at bay.
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READ NOWThis pattern – periods of sustained Melville attack and stout Raiders defence with the occasional breakaway move – continued throughout a scoreless first half, played out in front of an increasingly restless home crowd.
Half time provided an opportunity for Melville to refocus and reload and the team scored almost immediately after the resumption through Justin McDougall.
The lead was extended to two goals through Matthew Willis, and while Raiders never gave up trying Melville ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.
Melville coach Russell Lee paid tribute to his players after the game.
“Raiders worked extremely hard for the whole game and it is easy to panic when the goals don’t come early in a must-win game,” he said.
“To the boys’ credit they stuck to the plan and we came away with the result.
“Next week is a totally different challenge against the top ranked University side, but nothing changes for our group; we go into that game confident that if we play to our level for the full 70 minutes we can get the win.”
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