Round 19 Preview – PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s
Only four scheduled rounds of football remaining for most teams as we approach Round Nineteen of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition this weekend.
I say most teams because Rydalmere Lions have to somehow fit two postponed matches into what will be a busy schedule in the run in, with Hawkesbury City and Balmain Tigers the opposition they are yet to play.
Five of the six scheduled matches for this weekend will be played on Saturday, with the one solitary game on Sunday afternoon closing off proceedings.
Saturday’s fixture between Western NSW Mariners and Hawkesbury City has already had a venue and time alteration, being moved to Glen Willow Stadium at Mudgee, now with a 3-00pm kick off.
With only four matches remaining, the Mariners will be desperate to get a result to give them any chance of avoiding last position. Despite some spirited performances of late, they came unstuck in a crazy final few minutes last week against Dunbar, and will need skipper Adam Scimone to lift his troops once again and grab the points on offer.
Not only did Hawkesbury City have a hard fought loss against Magic last week, they lost inspirational defender, Andrew Stevenson, late on with a red card, and he’ll have to serve a suspension. Dean Bertenshaw’s lads still boast one of the best defensive records in the league with 28 goals conceded – only Stanmore (25) and Dunbar (27) have better – so no doubt that a solitary goal may be what decides this encounter. The Hawks will be more than happy to replicate their first round victory against the Mariners, which resulted in a 3-0 home triumph.
Two teams coming off victories in their most recent outings will meet at Hensley Athletic Field on Saturday night, with Dunbar Rovers meeting Balmain Tigers at 7-00pm.
The Rovers ran riot last weekend, trouncing Western NSW 7-1 with a frenzy of four goals in the final few minutes. Opportunist striker, David Desmond, netted four times himself on the night, including a quick fire 3 minute hatrick, moving him to sixth on the scoring charts with 12 goals for the campaign.
The Tigers have had plenty of improvement in recent weeks, and that built to a crescendo last Sunday when they accounted for Inter Lions 1-0 with a goal to central striker, Marcelo Turdera.
Despite going in as underdogs, Balmain are playing with plenty of renewed confidence and will no doubt be eyeing a point or three from their away journey.
Sydney University will be looking to consolidate their top five position on Saturday when they entertain Granville Rage at Uni’s Football Ground.
Now only one point ahead of Magic courtesy of dropping two points last week at Arlington against Dully, the ’students’ can ill afford to drop any more if they are to feature in finals football, and will be looking to their twin strikers, Scott Tonkin and Rosario Occhipinti, scorers of 22 goals between them, to steer them to victory.
The Rage had a bleak July, unable to grab any points in a month where their efforts did not translate onto scoreboards. Shoring up their defence will no doubt help them grab the result they so desire, because they continue to look deadly in attack, lead by the lively Daniel Bittar, who notched his 10th goal of the season last weekend.
Two goals to Luke Mesiti gave Granville a 2-1 win in the first round, and a similar result here will give the Rage fans some respite leading in to the remainder of the season.
Arlington Oval will undoubtedly host this week’s match of the round, with Stanmore Hawks taking on Rydalmere Lions on Saturday night at 7-00pm.
Sitting second on the ladder on 39 points, the Hawks have proven a sturdy opposition for anyone this season, and are on the back of a run that includes just the one loss in their last 14 matches.
Domenico Tripodi has been in superb form this campaign, his high workrate and effective set pieces proving fruitful in his side’s surge up the ladder. Stanmore welcome skipper, Steve Liavas, back from suspension this week, and will be confident of repeating their first round 2-0 win over the Lions at Rydalmere Park.
Rydalmere come in to this match following a 3-4 home reverse against Hills Brumbies last week, effectively ending their chances of a Premiership title, unless Hills have a catastrophic last four matches.
But the Lions are at their most dangerous when wounded, and with Amaury Gauthier and Yoel Silvestre leading a lightning quick attack, and Matthew Mayora playing strongly in central defence, they will come hunting for nothing less than three points to put their season back on track.
An intriguing battle will take place at Lily Football Stadium on Saturday night, when league frontrunners, Hills Brumbies, welcome the visit of Gladesville Ryde Magic for a 7-30pm kick off.
The Brumbies juggernaut just keeps on rolling along, and last week’s defeat of Rydalmere Lions has given Hills just that little bit more confidence to ride the crest of the wave till season end.
Jordan Parfait and Dongyong Heo have provided service from the flanks all season, but they are starting to find the net themselves as the Brumbies look to be firing on all attacking cylinders in the final weeks of the competition.
Last time around, Hills won comfortably by 5-1 at Magdala Park. But the Magic are fighting for a semi final berth now, and currently sit in sixth position, one point behind Sydney University, with a narrow win against Hawkesbury last week keeping them well and truly on the heels of the ‘students’. It will be a homecoming of sorts for playmaker Chris Tomaras – he plied his trade last season at Lily Football Stadium with Blacktown City – so look out for a strong performance given he will be familiar with every blade of the artificial grass.
Sunday’s solitary fixture will take place at Concord Oval, kicking off at 3-00pm, with an Inner West derby between Inter Lions and Dulwich Hill.
Inter Lions lost valuable ground last weekend in their quest for finals football when they came unstuck 0-1 at Balmain. Sitting in 7th position on 22 points, a win this week is an absolute must given mathematically they still have a chance of closing the gap between themselves and the teams above them on the ladder.
Despite dropping two points last week when they conceded two late goals against Sydney University, Dulwich Hill again showed they are on the up and up with their performances of late, and will be hell bent on repeating their first round 4-3 win over Inter so they can join both Hawkesbury City and Granville Rage, who are both three points above them on the ladder.
