Canberra Chill men's side secure first win of inaugural Hockey One season

Ben and Jake Staines scored two equalising goals in the Chill's 3(3)-3(1) win over the Perth Thundersticks at Perth Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

The Western Australian crowd were on their feet when the Canberrans came back and pushed the Thundersticks into a shoot out.

The Chill brought the heat after losing their two opening matches by significant margins and coach Peter Morgan sighed with relief when the final whistle blew.

"My word it brings confidence," Morgan said.

"We were concentrating on playing the full 60 minutes and in the end we did that. We were under the pump for quite some time but we absolved and we're happy to take the points."

The Thundersticks were first to break the deadlock in the 14th minute when striker Liam Flynn passed the ball across the face of goal for Tim Geers to tap it in.

An on-target shot from Perth striker Trent Mitton cannoned into Aaron Kershaw's hip and gave the Thundersticks a penalty stroke. Half-back Brayden King converted the penalty with a low swoop to the right-hand corner.

But the Canberra Chill fought their way back into the game when midfielder Jake Staines trapped the ball, spun and catapulted the ball into the top left corner late in the second quarter. The 22-year-old scored the conversion to level the score before half-time.

"In times past, we would have let the game go from there but we knuckled down," Morgan said.

"It shows when we play the structures we're trying to play and increase our level of execution, we're competitive at this level."

A see-sawing second half saw the score locked at 2-all with less than three minutes remaining. Perth looked like they were going to seal the match when Tom Wickham rolled the ball past Chill keeper Andrew Charter.

But the striker missed the conversion as Canberra searched for a chance of a late comeback.

Forward Garry Backhus carried the ball towards the goal line in the next attacking play and pushed it back towards the face of goal with a slick pass.

Ben Staines finished the play with an equalising goal but couldn't pass Thunderstick keeper Tyler Lovell to score the conversion.

Both teams frantically tried to score as the clock wound down to full time and sent the match into a shoot out.

Japanese import Manabu Yamashita, James Day and Backhus put the score beyond doubt with three post-siren goals, while Thundersticks' Trent Mitton bagged one for the hosts.

"Andrew Charter made some brilliant saves," Morgan said.

"It gives us a kick start when we scored the first two, they're vital. Then we saved the first two, so we were fairly confident from there."

HOCKEY ONE

Round three

Men's: CANBERRA CHILL 3 (3) (J Staines 2, B Staines, Murata, Day, Backus goals ) bt PERTH THUNDERSTICKS 3 (1) (Geers, King, Wickham, Mitton goals)

Women's: PERTH THUNDERSTICKS 1(2) bt CANBERRA CHILL 1(1)