State League Two Round 10 Preview
Football NSW Men’s State League 2 round 10 features Enfield Rovers against Prospect United at Garside Park on Saturday afternoon (3pm), and Hurstville FC versus Rydalmere Lions at St George Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening (5pm).
On Sunday afternoon (3pm) Western Condors host Hurstville City Minotaurs at Calabria Sports Ground, while Southern Branch face Southern Bulls at South Nowra Football Complex. University of NSW have the bye. Condors drew 0-0 with Bulls in a round-two catch-up game at Ernie Smith Reserve on Wednesday night.
A vastly-improved Enfield Rovers is out for revenge against Prospect United at Garside Park on Saturday afternoon (3pm). United beat Rovers soundly 5-2 in their first-ever state league meeting on the season’s opening weekend and currently sit second following a three-game winning sequence. Enfield went the other way and suffered five straight defeats before also enjoying a hat-trick of positive results to suggest this rematch may be a tighter affair, despite Prospect boasting nine different scorers in their ranks, and despite Rovers being win-less on home turf this winter.
Table-toppers Hurstville FC meet Rydalmere Lions for a salivating contest at St George Soccer Stadium on Saturday evening (5pm). Rydalmere are yet to deliver on their pre-season favouritism and find themselves fighting for a top-four position halfway through the season, seven points behind the leader. Lions have won six of their previous nine encounters against Hurstville but FC did them over 1-0 in a first-round classic at Rydalmere Park with plenty more on the line this time round for the former Super League foes.
Southern Bulls may well be wary of their looming match against Southern Branch at South Nowra Football Complex on Sunday afternoon (3pm). Bulls fell 1-0 to Hurstville FC last week and played out a dour 0-0 draw with Condors midweek and meet a Branch side buoyed by their breakthrough win against Minotaurs at the same venue last week (they’d lost eight straight state league matches before it). The southerners played extremely well but need to plug a defence that’s leaked 22 goals in eight games facing a Bulls outfit that’s netted a league-high 17 goals and conceded a league-low five.
It’s Groundhog Day as Western Condors host Hurstville City Minotaurs at Calabria Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon (3pm) and face-off again at Hartleys Oval on Monday afternoon (3pm) for a first-round catch-up. City suffered its first league loss last week falling 3-2 to cellar-dwellers Southern Branch while Condors will end up playing four games in eight days following a draining midweek 0-0 draw with Bulls (then they play Bulls again, Rydalmere and leaders Hurstville FC). The clubs share four wins each and two draws from their past 10 meetings, six contests decided by a goal or less.
