The Rams were clean and clinical across the park, strong in defence and creative in attack as they blitzed the hapless Wests outfit 8-2 on Sunday.

The goals were shared throughout the team, with the always-reliable Ben Urquhart slotting home a treble, including one from a short corner, while Matt Brown picked up a pair of his own.

Fullback Brett Gallagher was a surprising addition to the goal scorers, finding the back of the net in the 50th minute, while left half Alex Kinsey was the first to score for Maitland.

Toby Bush also capitalised on some great lead up teamwork to score from the left wing in the 69th minute.

Coach Peter Lovell said he was pleased to finally see his team “nail one home”.

“I’ve been hoping that we could really put some goals in the net against some of the weaker teams, which we hadn’t been able to do so far this season,” he said.

“We never really nail a team home.

“They scored first, which was a worry and has happened to us in the past few games, but we were patient and really strung some goals together.”

While commitment and discipline have hurt the team in recent matches, Lovell said they turned it around at the Maitland hockey centre.

“It’s probably the best I’ve seen a few of these guys play,” he said.

“Nathan Spencer at fullback made some great saves, Gallagher was great, Cameron Ling our goalkeeper went one-on-one a couple of times and didn’t let one past, while Ben Urquhart had another great game.

“It was good to score and share the goals around and it was a great defensive effort, they were committed and showed heart.

“Alex Kinsey coming out off the shorts (corners) got out and stopped one or two, which is something we haven’t been able to do this year.”

However, Kinsey is unlikely to be able to back up his solid performance for the Rams next week after he received two yellow cards during Sunday’s match.

Skipper Peter Urquhart, who was out with suspension on Sunday, will also be missing from the Maitland side for a few more weeks due to NSW Country commitments.

With Maitland winning by such a large margin, and The Entrance going down to Souths 7-2, Lovell said Maitland now had a commanding goal differential lead over their Central Coast rivals going into this weekend’s clash.

“We’re in front of The Entrance (on points) and we also turned our goal deficit around from a one goal difference to about 11,” he said.

“We’ve got them next week so that’s when we really need to nail home that advantage.”

In other weekend matches Gosford put the bite on the tigers 7-2 while ladder leaders Norths were flawless with a 9-0 demolition of University.