Ehren Hazell says his NSW Pride side had to really "dig deep" to stave off a fast-finishing Perth Thundersticks and maintain their unbeaten start to their Hockey One defence.
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The Tamworth product slotted his second successive brace as they held on to win a thrilling top of the table clash against a Thundersticks side featuring fellow Tamworth native Matt Willis, at Homebush on Friday night 4-3.
In shades of their victory over the Adelaide Fire the previous round, the Pride saw off five penalty corners after the siren to make it three-from-three.
"We really had to dig deep, especially at the end. Perth really came at us but as you can see, Dylan Martin ran down three at the end and that's just how we play," Hazell said post-match.
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The forward had opened the scoring for the Pride in just the sixth minute after lashing home a strike after latching onto skipper Jack Hayes through ball.
"Hayesy just got the ball and I thought I'd just sprint through. He put the perfect ball, nicely weighted, and I saw the goalie staying back, so I just thought I'd hit the crap out of it and it just happened to go in," Hazell recalled humorously.
After forcing a re-take with the ensuing conversion, he doubled the Pride's advantage with a neat routine that ended with a clinical tomahawk finish.
The host's advantage was quickly wiped away though as Perth's Chris Bausor flicked into the top left-hand corner from the penalty spot after Jake Harvie was crunched by Pride returnee Flynn Ogilvie.
Harvie regathered himself to coolly slot the conversion effort, after sending Pride goalkeeper Ash Thomas to the carpet.
The Pride went 4-2 up in the 28th minute when Daine Richards latched onto an outrageous upright reverse goal shot out of mid-air to send the ball up into the postage stamp, before doubling down with his conversion.
Whilst down a player, the Thundersticks took the intensity up a notch when Aran Zalewski deflected home from their fourth set piece to bring the margin back to one goal.
The next five minutes of play left fans speechless as first Thomas made a massive save from Liam Flynn's drag flick, only to see former-Kookaburras shot stopper Tyler Lovell go one better with a world-class stick save from point blank range.
The Pride had the opportunity to close out the match after Sam Mudford earned a penalty stroke, but again Lovell produced a blinder to deny Hayes from the spot.
It left the door ajar for the visitors and after Alistair Murray's quick thinking was rewarded with a set piece at the death, Martin would be called upon to do the heavy lifting as the Pride saw off five repeat penalty corner opportunities for a gutsy victory in their first home game of the season.
They remain at home to face the Brisbane Blaze on Friday night at Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre, while Perth will return west to host a desperate Tassie Tigers side on Saturday afternoon.
