Round 2 Preview – PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s
If Round One was anything to go by, then we simply cannot wait for Round Two of the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition to be played this weekend.
There are five matches scheduled to be played on Saturday night, all kicking off at 7pm, whilst the two matches on Sunday start at 4:30pm and 7pm respectively.
One of the five Saturday night matches puts two first round winners head to head as Stanmore Hawks entertain Fraser Park at Arlington Oval.
Stanmore Hawks overcame a one goal deficit to overcome Dunbar last weekend, equalising on the night with an incredible long distance goal from skipper, Ian Hillier, who lobbed a shot from inside the centre circle.
Fraser Park cleared the cobwebs with a 3-1 triumph over Granville Rage on day one, with Ben Vidaic the catalyst for the victory. The clinical number nine scored two goals and was brought down inside the penalty area for the third to give Fraser what proved to be an unassailable lead on the hour mark.
This local derby will have plenty riding on it, given a win for either side would see the victors sitting pretty on six points from two wins.
Another of the Saturday night fixtures will see two first round losers clash at Heffron Synthetic Field with Hawkesbury City welcoming Dunbar Rovers.
The Hawks were a depleted side in a narrow 0-1 reverse against Dully last weekend, due to an overlap of summer sporting commitments amongst other factors. But they performed admirably to only go down to a solitary effort, and will welcome back some of the troops with open arms in this fixture in front of their home fans.
Dunbar can feel a little hard done by when you consider their 1-2 loss to Stanmore last weekend included a goal that was fired in from close to the halfway line, and a second goal that was scored when their keeper was down injured. But football can be cruel at times, and Dunbar will be looking for their fortunes to change with nothing short of three points to get their season up and running.
St George City FA take on SD Raiders at Fraser Park on Saturday night in a fixture that twelve months ago was taking place in the fourth tier State League.
The PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s newcomers scored a whopping ten goals between them in Round One, although experiencing mixed fortunes.
St George City lead competition heavyweights 4-2 at the break on day one, but ended up losing on the back of a second half catastrophe, and will be hurting after letting that match slip from their grasp. James Spanoudakis, Juan Chavez and Aleksandar Jovovic proved they will be a handful in the attacking third, and will be looking to add to their opening day goals come Saturday night.
SD Raiders turned on the after burners when they came out of the sheds for the second half last weekend, overturning a 0-1 deficit in to a 6-2 demolition of Balmain Tigers.
Even with ten men after the dismissal of Daniel Bittar, the Raiders supreme fitness took over as they rattled in half a dozen goals, including braces to Mitsuki Nakada and Tyrone Gatt.
With so much attacking prowess on show, both defences will do well to be on standby in order to avoid an onslaught of sorts from opposition strikers.
Granville Rage and Western NSW Mariners will meet at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday night desperate to kick start their campaign after opening round losses last weekend.
The Rage faced the might of Fraser Park on day one, and showed plenty of late resolve to try and bring some respect to the scoreline, grabbing a late goal from Charbel Haddad and going close on a couple of other occasions.
It will be the first of many long road trips to Sydney for the Mariners, but trips they have made plenty of times before. They will be wounded after a big loss at home to Inter, so expect some improved application this week in a bid to avoid a 0-2 win-loss record come Saturday night.
Sydney University will play their second consecutive match at home when they welcome Rydalmere Lions to the Sydney University Football Ground in a repeat of the 2016 Preliminary Final.
That match seemed like it was only played last week, with the Lions prevailing in a penalty shootout after a seesawing battle that had everything.
Both teams have had changes to their personnel since that outing, but the Lions seemed like they were back to old ways with a 7-4 flexing against St George last weekend.
With plenty of attacking options to be able to count on each week, coach Tony Basha can expect a glut of goals if they all want a piece of the action, just like they did in Round One.
Sydney University will have learned plenty from their opening day 0-1 reverse against Gladesville, and will be on guard to avoid a repeat home loss in Round Two this weekend.
Valentine Sports Park will host a 7pm kick off on Sunday when Balmain Tigers meet Dulwich Hill.
Despite leading and looking the goods at the break in Round One, Balmain fell apart against the SD Raiders to lose 2-6, and will look towards key marksman, Rosario Occhipinti, to spearhead a better overall 90 minute performance this weekend.
Dully got their season off to a great start in Round One, keeping a clean sheet and taking all three points via a superb Luke Giverin effort. Given the relatively new look personnel , Dully can only get better in terms of understanding and cohesion, so expect even better performances as the weeks roll by.
Two first round winners meet on Sunday night at Fraser Park as Inter Lions tackle Gladesville Ryde Magic in what promises to be a tight affair.
Daniel Fogarty continued where he left off in 2016, nabbing a hat-trick in his teams’ 5-1 away triumph over the Mariners. Inter were in control from the outset, and will look for more of the same this week as they hope for 2 wins from 2 matches.
Is there anything Kiriakos Tohouroglou can’t do? Not content with keeping the opposition at bay in Round One with a clean sheet, Gladesville’s veteran keeper took the responsibility of converting a penalty to provide Magic a 1-0 win over Sydney University in Round One. Gladesville will welcome back skipper, Chris Gaitatzis, for this clash, hoping they can emulate round one with another three points come Sunday night.
