By ADEM SARICAOGLU
ALTONA and Footscray split their season-opening Premier League Hockey double-header at the Altona Hockey Ground on Saturday.
In the women’s game it was Footscray who landed the first blow of the season, coming away with a 2-1 win despite conceding the opening goal of the game to the Seagulls.
In the men’s game, however, Altona’s Patrick Phillips was the lone scorer in the Seagulls’ 1-0 win over the Bulldogs.
Altona coach Ben Guy was impressed with the poise his men had shown during the tense local derby.
“It was really positive for the boys,” Guy said.
“They’ve started out very well and didn’t lose patience. We went into half-time 0-0 after having 22 circle entries and in the second half they continued on very positively and moved the ball really well from back to front, particularly through the midfield.”
Guy said his side could have added to its goal tally, and is hoping his forwards can make more use of their scoring opportunities in coming weeks.
“We need to continue working on some of those forward opportunities,” he said.
“We ended up with 32 circle entries for the game, so the opportunity for us is to convert some of those into actual scoreboard pressure going into round two against Hawthorn at Hawthorn (this) Saturday.”
Footscray coach Travis Brooks remained positive after the game, telling Star his undermanned Bulldogs were gallant in defeat.
“I think it was a pretty even contest,” Brooks said.
“Each team could have scored first and Altona got the job done there and managed to hold on for the rest of the game. They probably had the better of the play and the opportunities but for us we certainly took it up to them.
“We had five guys out with the under-18 state team which certainly pushes the depth in your club but that’s not an excuse for where we’re at. However we did miss some quality with the guys that weren’t there up front just to help us get some pay-off inside the circle.”
