State League One Round 14 Preview

Balmain SC ? Fairfield City Lions
5-00pm, Saturday, June 19 @ Lambert Park
The first match of the round pits together Balmain and Fairfield City, with Balmain facing up on the back of two victories last weekend, against the Magic on Sunday, and Hurstville on Monday.
The rain kept Balmain away from the playing field for almost a month, but they are keen to make up for lost time, and face a Fairfield side who have started to believe they can give this competition a real shake.
Midfield experience is abundant in league top scorer, Yavos Ekinci, and skipper, Robbie Issa, and in young Ben Cronk, they possess a striker with youth and speed, and in great form of late.
Footnote; Balmain didn?t play for almost a month, and then had two games within 24 hours, which included a rescheduled match versus Hurstville on the Queen?s Birthday holiday.
Stiven Kostanic made it two goals in two games when he put the home side in front on 16 minutes, and that?s the way it stayed until late on.
On 74 minutes, Jockey Buonavoglia played a neat one-two with Nick Paradisis before squaring to Lorenzo Merlino, and the burly striker did his job to restore parity for Balmain. With five minutes remaining Balmain grabbed the winner when a 25 yard speculator from veteran, Con Paradisis, took a deflection on it?s way to goal to give the visitors a valuable three points.
Stanmore Hawks ? UNSW
7-00pm, Saturday, June 19 @ Arlington Oval
The Hawks will be keen to repeat their first round 1-2 away victory over UNSW when they entertain them this Saturday evening.
A loss last weekend has seen Stanmore drop out of the top five, and it?s this inconsistency which will be their undoing if they want to be around in semi finals time.
Luke Andrews? students can?t seem to take a trick this season, with injuries taking their toll, and will not relish the visit to Arlington.
Inter Lions ? Hills Brumbies
3-00pm, Sunday, June 20 @ Concord Oval
Inter Lions will be hoping to avenge their first round 1-3 loss to Hills when they meet this weekend at the picturesque Concord Oval.
Inter had a great win last weekend, and with it have moved into the top five, and Nick Tarquinio will know that a positive result here against the league leaders is required if they are to be a serious threat to the Division One title.
Hills on the other hand just keep going about their business, their win last weekend being their ninth of a fantastic season so far, and they will be wanting another three points here to keep the opposition teams at bay.
Hurstville ZFC ? Blacktown Spartans
3-00pm, Sunday, June 20 @ Hurstville Oval
Blacktown ran riot the last time these teams met, and it?s difficult to imagine anything different this time given one of the league?s best attacks will face a defence that has continued to leak goals all season.
The home side will be buoyed by the return of last season?s top scorer, Stiven Kostanic, but Blacktown have plenty of goalscorers of their own, and will be confident of another three points in this match up.
Gladesville Ryde Magic ? Mounties Wanderers
3-00pm, Sunday, June 20 @ Magdala Park
Mounties showed a little resolve last week when they scored twice late on to snatch a point against Camden, hoping they?ve turned the corner from a winless period which was a result of a horrific injury toll to the first grade squad.
But the Magic will be in front of their avid home fans, and will be quietly confident of snatching a positive outcome in this game.
Camden Tigers ? Schofields Scorpions
3-00pm, Sunday, June 20 @ Ron Dine Reserve
Camden can close the gap between themselves and the Scorpions to just three points if they produce the desired result in this match on Sunday afternoon.
With Schofields occupying fourth spot, it becomes a real ?six pointer? for the Tigers, but Schofields themselves will be smarting from last week?s loss to Inter and will be up for a real battle this time around.
Division One Goalscorers
(Round Thirteen)
12 – Ekinci (Fairfield City)
10 – Hijazi (Stanmore Hawks)
9 – McPherson (Blacktown Spartans),
8 – Smutek (Camden Tigers)
6 – Kabbara (Gladesville Ryde), Savic (Hills Brumbies),
5 – Jeremiah (Fairfield City), Mitrovich (Hills Brumbies) Polistina (Inter Lions), Macrae (Blacktown Spartans), Paradisis (Balmain SC), Cronk (Fairfield City), Morgan (Camden Tigers)
4 – Pannowitz (Hills Brumbies), Zahra (Blacktown Spartans), Darkoh (Hills Brumbies), Dimento D (Inter Lions), Cronk (Fairfield City), Iredale (Blacktown Spartans), Issa (Fairfield City Lions), Boyd (Schofields),Squillacioti (Stanmore Hawks)
3 – Buonavoglia (Balmain SC), Merlino (Balmain SC), Todd (Blacktown Spartans), Nastoulis (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Baldock (Mounties), Schuman (Schofields), Wright (Blacktown Spartans), McKie (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Gbusseh (Hurstville ZFC), Martinez (Gladesville Ryde Magic), Farrell (Hills Brumbies), Davelaar (UNSW), MacKechnie (Camden Tigers), Ruoco (Inter Lions), Simpson (Schofields), Watters (Schofields), Hardwick (UNSW)
-By Frank Speranza