Souths face a season defining period in the Hunter Coast Premier Hockey League with three crucial matches in the space of six days.
Sitting fifth and three competition points outside the top four, Souths (5) take on defending champions Gosford (8) twice in a row before meeting traditional Newcastle rivals Norths (8) next Saturday.
“It’s going to be a pretty intense six days,” Souths player-coach John Fernance said.
And after dropping previous encounters with Maitland (8) and ladder leaders Wests (9) when in winning positions, Fernance knows they can’t afford to drop too many more.
“Too be honest with you, we should be top of the table,” he said.
“We let two games slip we should have won against Maitland and Wests, and now find ourselves fifth.
“The game against Maitland was just ridiculous. We were 2-0 up with three-and-a-half minutes to go and then it went from bad to worse. It was like quicksand – the harder you try the more you sink.”
Souths will be without Newcastle under-18 representatives Angus Abbo and Sebastian Rollings for Sunday’s first test against Gosford at Broadmeadow (12pm), but are back from state championship duty in Bathurst for the return leg on the Central Coast on Thursday night (7:30pm).
Elsewhere on Sunday and Norths meet Wests in a top-four battle at Newcastle International Hockey Centre (3pm) while The Entrance host University at Wyong (12pm). Maitland has the bye.
