Round 4 Preview – PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s
The competition ladder has a chequered look about it as we look forward to hopefully seeing a full round the PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition this weekend.
Only five of the fourteen clubs have played the full quota of three matches, and of those five, it is only Fraser Park who have managed maximum points so far.
At the time of writing this, the Hawkesbury City v Fraser Park match at David Bertenshaw Field has been washed out. The First Grade match between Stanmore Hawks and Gladesville Ryde Magic has been postponed.
Stay tuned for details regarding rescheduling.
An intriguing battle commencing half an hour later at 6-00pm in Bathurst is the clash between the Western NSW Mariners and Dunbar Rovers.
The Mariners are flying high at the moment, with a draw and two wins within a week, including passage in to the fourth round of the Westfield FFA Cup. Coach, Andrew Fearnley, would be most pleased, given the first two of those matches involved travel to Sydney and his troops prepared and recovered sufficiently to get the job done.
Nathan Davis has been an instrumental target man so far this season and he will no doubt figure prominently once again given he continues to receive the service he has been.
Dunbar Rovers have not had the rub of the green so far in 2017, despite being more than competitive in each and every game. The Rovers are still smarting from the wound of losing last season on their trip out west, and will Ryan Shaughnessy in fine form, will be out to reverse the outcome this time around.
Saturday night’s other 7-00pm fixtures sees St George City FA playing Balmain Tigers at Fraser Park, with the Saints looking for their first win of the season and to continue Balmain’s poor start to the 2017 campaign, whilst Tony Basha’s Rydalmere Lions are hoping to be unleashed after not playing for almost three weeks when they travel to Valentine Sports Park 3 in a tricky tie against Granville Rage.
The first of Sunday’s two fixtures will bring together Sydney University and Dulwich Hill at the Uni Football Ground for a 3-00pm kick off. The ‘students’ kick started their winning form with an eager and determined victory last weekend against the Raiders, but will have to find another gear to take on a hungry Dulwich Hill who have yet to concede a goal this season, and who will be eager to play a full 90 minutes given their ten minute cameo last weekend due to floodlight failure.
Round Four comes to a conclusion on Sunday evening at Fraser Park where Inter Lions tackle SD Raiders at 7-00pm in an interesting battle.
Inter are six points from two games following two focussed victories to start their season, and given they are always likely to score given their attacking flair, not conceding much at the back could mean a finals berth if they can keep this effort up.
But Inter’s resolute defence will be sorely tested by SD Raiders, who don’t mind throwing numbers forward when they have to, evidenced by a thumping six goal debut against Balmain in the opening round, as well as a strong second half showing last weekend in a narrow loss to Sydney University.
