IGA NPL NSW Mens 1 Finals Series Week One Preview
Finals series 2013 commences this weekend with two massive encounters to whet the appetites of all football enthusiasts in NSW.
Sutherland Sharks and Bonnyrigg White Eagles do battle to setup a shot at Sydney United 58 FC in week two, meanwhile Rockdale City Suns and Marconi Stallions look to keep their respective seasons alive. The winner in the latter encounter to face off in week two against the loser of the Sharks v White Eagles encounter.
Sutherland Sharks v Bonnyrigg White Eagles, Saturday 24th of August, 7:00 pm Seymour Shaw
Last Week:
Rockdale City Suns 2 Sutherland Sharks 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0 Marconi Stallions 1
2013 encounters:
Rd 5: Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3 Sutherland Sharks 2
Rd 16: Sutherland Sharks 4 Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0
Somewhat unbelievably, both Sutherland Sharks and Bonnyrigg White Eagles lost their respective final matches of the regular season and cough up their Premiership hopes in the process.
With the Sharks visiting Rockdale City Suns, and the White Eagles hosting Marconi Stallions, expectation was that both sides would finish off the season with wins and fly into the finals series full of confidence, however at the conclusion of the 90’ minutes in Round 22, these two sides were ‘pipped’ by Sydney United 58 FC to the Premiers trophy and now must face off to have a chance against the Reds.
Both sides have dominated the competition in 2013, with the White Eagles mid-season slump coinciding with the very positive run of Robbie Stanton’s men.
The Sharks hold home ground advantage for this encounter, and this may well be telling after the Seymour Shaw side handed Bonnyrigg a 4-0 hiding in Round 16 when the two sides last met.
Sutherland’s passing game has been a pleasure to watch, though rather unexplainably, the side’s confidence in the final third has somewhat gone missing with the goals drying up recently.
Stanton will be hoping that his side’s return to the perfect playing surface at home will assist his side’s return to winning form, as Panni Nikas and captain Nick Stavroulakis will be bestowed with the role of leading their teammates on the playing field.
Bonnyrigg’s run home at the end of the season was very impressive with the side showing signs of the White Eagles outfit that annihilated all competition in the run home to last season’s finals.
Again, similarly to the Sharks, the side lost its final home match of the season against Marconi Stallions, pushing Brian Brown’s men into third place.
To have any chance of defeating the Sharks, Robbie Younis & Co. will need to be more clinical in the front-third, something the side failed to achieve against Marconi at home.
This encounter will be a massive battle in midfield with the first team to settle on Saturday evening to have the best chance of setting up a date with Sydney United 58 FC in week 2 of finals football.
Rockdale City Suns v Marconi Stallions, Sunday 25th of August, 3:30 pm Sydney United Sports Centre
Last Week:
Rockdale City Suns 2 Sutherland Sharks 0
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 0 Marconi Stallions 1
2013 encounters:
Rd 3: Rockdale City Suns 0 Marconi Stallions 0
Rd 14: Marconi Stallions 1 Rockdale City Suns 0
Rockdale City Suns and Marconi Stallions have both enjoyed very positive seasons with finals football realised after Round 22. These two sides both endured a very difficult start to 2013, with finals football, undoubtedly, the last thing on the minds of both sets of supporters early on.
With two of the competition’s highest profile coaches, both sides worked wonders to extend its 2013 playing season.
Branko Culina’s Suns have invested a lot of faith in youth with the side unleashing the likes of Idriss El Hafiane, Alec Uroseveski and the Speranza brothers – Giorgio and Roberto. Mixed with the experience of Paul Kohler, Paul Reid and Richard Cardozo, the side has turned many heads in its run to sealing fourth-spot on the ladder.
Marconi too have been impressive in the run home, never more so than in its final round win, deep into second-half injury-time, to defeat Bonnyrigg away from home.
The Stallions’ hopes of retaining the Minor Premiership therefore remain alive, though contrary to last season, the side will need to make another monster run without inspirational captain Nahuel Arrarte – the Stallions stalwart forced to call time on his playing career after aggravating a knee injury in Round 21.
Coach Jean-Paul De Marigny will be looking for more of the fighting spirit shown by his troops last weekend, with the likes of Milorad Simonovic, Shane Webb and James Chronopoulos to lead the troops on Sunday.
The task at hand will not be an easy one with the Suns playing some great football at present. Defensively, Kohler and Askin Oygur have been very sound with Brendan Gan and El Hafiane in tremendous touch out of midfield.
In the final third, the exploits of Cardozo and Alec Urosevski will have the Stallions rearguard on alert though with James Chronopoulos in brilliant form for Marconi, the Suns’ strikers had better have their scoring boots on if they are to breech his goal.
With the 2013 season to end on Sunday for one of these two sides, action aplenty – including passion and desperation – will be on show this weekend.
-By Joseph Carlucci
