State League Division 1 Round 16 Preview

Schofields Scorpions will be hoping to close the gap on leaders Dulwich Hill at CSI Sport Ground on Saturday in what is shaping up as a real blockbuster.
The Division?s best attack (Schofields) will be looking to pierce the Division?s best defence (Dulwich Hill), in a game that the Scorpions will have to win in order to stay close to both Dully and Blacktown Spartans at the top of the competition ladder.
The first round encounter finished all square in a thrilling match, with Dully squandering a 2-0 lead with goals from Bove and Messam, to draw 2-2, after McPherson and Harrington had pulled the Scorpions level late in the piece.
Both teams are coming off unorthodox results last weekend, and no doubt will be primed, and ready to rock and roll come Saturday night.
Sydney Wanderers are facing a tough battle on Saturday night when they entertain second placed Blacktown Spartans at Hajduk Stadium.
The Wanderers are struggling to find any consistency this season, and may well feel the full brunt of a Spartans team smarting from an unlikely reverse last weekend against Hurstville ZSC.
If Balmain have any semi final aspirations for 2009, then a win and nothing less will suffice when Mounties FC visit Lambert Park on Saturday evening.
Even though there is plenty of football still to play in 2009, Mounties are currently occupying the fifth and final semi final spot, and are nine points in front of Balmain. The home side are backing up after a great away win at Arlington Oval against Dully last weekend, so will be confident of adding another scalp this week.
Arlington Oval on Sunday will host Stanmore Hawks and Hills Brumbies, with the first round encounter having produced a scoreless draw. Stanmore need the three points to stay in the top half, and a draw against Inter Lions last weekend will give them the confidence to go out and secure the win against Hills, who, in turn, will be hoping for a victory to close the gap at the bottom of the ladder.
Two in form teams will meet at Concord Oval on Sunday when Inter Lions and UNSW go head to head. Inter have made a recent surge towards the competition summit with some pleasing results of late, whilst UNSW are on a winning streak which stretches a number of weeks now, so look out for a real arm wrestle in this match up.
In the final match of the round Hurstville ZSC meet Fairfield City Lions at Hurstville Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Footnote ? drama at CSI Sport Ground on Wednesday night in a catch up game, when the failure of the floodlights at half time caused the postponement of the clash between Schofields Scorpions and Balmain SC. The first forty five minutes had seen some drama within itself, Balmain leading ten man Schofields by 1-0, after Merlino had finished off a shot by Maberley that had hit the upright. Stay tuned for updates on this match from Football NSW.
Division One
Top Goalscorers -Week Fourteen
We have a new outright leader in the top goalscorers charts, with Stiven Kostanic?s brace against Blacktown Spartans seeing him move to 12 goals. UNSW Stuart Meney is one of the reasons behind his club?s recent form, scoring again last week to move to equal second on 10 goals, whilst Steve Biviano creeps closer still to the leading pack, moving to 9 goals with his brace last week.
12   ? Stiven Kostanic (Hurstville ZSC)
10     ? Glenn McPherson (Schofields Scorpions),Wissam Hijazi (Stanmore Hawks), Stuart Meney (UNSW)
9   ? Todd McCrae (Schofield Scorpions), Steve Biviano (Mounties FC)

6   ? Daniel Borg (Sydney Wanderers), Nabil Codmani (Fairfield City), Domenic Dimento (Inter Lions), Neil Philippou (Dulwich Hill), Daniel Cornett (Blacktown Spartans), Wand Jajaw (Blacktown Spartans)
 5   ? Ben Shrimpton (Hills Brumbies), Eddie Adam (Sydney Wanderers), Sam Messam (Dulwich Hill), Adrian Vizzari (Inter Lions), Rocky Luca (UNSW).
4      ?Rafael Bove (Dulwich Hill), Semih Sozer (Fairfield City Lions), Yoshi Tachi (Inter Lions), Reece Iredale (Schofields Scorpions), George Iliopoulos (Inter Lions)

-By Frank Speranza