WERRIBEE has burst out of the blocks with a commanding 6-0 opening day win over MHSOB in the Hockey Victoria men’s state league 3 at President’s Park on Saturday.
The Tigers will not get carried away as the visitors were undermanned with up to seven players missing to attend a wedding and there are rough edges in their own game to be smoothed over before the second round.
Tigers captain Ross Cowlishaw told the Weekly that next time his side confronts MHSOB it will be a significantly tougher unit. But he was still thrilled to kick-start the campaign with a six-goal blitz against the lesser lights.
“It was a great opening week to the season,” he said.
“We thought we played really well. We had about five shots within the first five minutes and scored at the eight minute mark and went on from there.”
The Tigers raced to a 3-0 lead at half-time and doubled that margin with a further three goals in the second half.
They kept a clean sheet with new goalkeeper Adam Wadley barely tested.
There was still an element of frustration for Tigers co-coaches Brian Cowie and Russell Skoglund when a raft of Tigers attacks on the MHSOB goal came up empty.
“We had about 19 shots on goal all up and their goalkeeper did really well to save a lot of them. We missed a lot of shots,” Cowlishaw said.
Experienced new recruit Tim Dean scored twice from open play before injuring his groin and set piece specialist Sam Huxtable hit in two penalty strokes.
Cowlishaw and Luke Simpson also added to the big margin that leaves the Tigers sitting on top of the ladder, albeit after one match day.
The damage was done in the Tigers’ midfield with Andrew Dearnley and Sean Gardner pulling the strings. The Tigers have a tough away trip to newly promoted Mornington in the second round on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Tigers rallied for a 7-0 win over Swinburne in the women’s state league 3 with co-captains Aimee Tout and Laura Baker outstanding throughout.
HV RESULTS: Mens: Werribee 6 MHSOB 0. Womens: Werribee 7 Swinburne 0.
