MELVILLE City Hockey Club’s men stumbled out of the blocks in its first State League fixture of the season, falling 3-0 to Wesley South Perth (WASPs) in a re-match of the 2016 grand final.
Melville began the game missing eight players from last year’s decider and the lack of experience showed with soft turnovers leading to goals in the first half.
The young team fought hard through the entire 70 minutes but were outclassed and coach Russell Lee was understandably disappointed after game.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted to,” he said.
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READ NOW“Credit to WASPs for the pressure they applied and for their finishing, but we gave the ball back to them too many times and they made us pay.
“Missing players is no excuse – we just have to play our game and we can beat anyone.
“We now have three games in the next two weeks and we need to turn this around quickly to make sure we set the season up.”