Gloucester Panthers went head to head with the Taree Tigers on the new turf at the Taree Hockey Centre.
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The Panthers started strongly, pushing the offence up with some great passing between the forwards.
This resulted in an early goal to recent recruit to the team, Warren Beggs, who is quickly shaping up to be a scoring machine after the last match where he scored five goals for the Panthers.
Tigers fought back and strengthened their defence.
Despite several attempts and a strong presence in Tigers territory, the Panthers couldn't convert multiple opportunities at goal.
The Panthers were trialling a new field format this match with their players and so as the encounter settled players were getting used to their positioning and game plan.
The Tigers made some valuable leads into Panthers’ territory showing strength through the middle.
But Tigers couldn't punch through the defence and this was a pleasing aspect of the match for Gloucester.
Gloucester maintained its lead into the second half and after 20 minutes into the second, newcomer Josh Howard caught a deflection and put the ball away into the top of the goal over the keeper's head.
The two young recruits, Josh and Harrison Moore are quickly learning what it takes to play up in the senior division with great relish making some valuable leads on the wings.
Toward the end of the second half, game play became a little tense and frustration showed throughout the Tigers team.
To their credit, they maintained pressure throughout the match but it was not enough to score against the Panthers.
The final score saw Gloucester's second victory in the Manning Valley competition, winning 2-0.
Gloucester has a few new recruits this season and a few long time returnees, so the decision was made to register the team in division three in order to give the team a season to work on play strategy. This looks to be paying dividends.
In the first round the team took on the Cundletown Cougars and outpaced them at every opportunity with a clear victory winning 11-0.
The second round was deferred due to a lightning storm, so it’s now an eager wait the next match against the Sharks on Thursday, April 26 as Panthers look to maintain their perfect start to the season.
