Round 10 Preview – PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s
Round Ten awaits us this weekend, promising to produce some closely fought action in the 2017 PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition.
The seven matches are scheduled across four timeslots over the two days, so there is plenty of football to watch for the avid fan.
Rydalmere Lions will host Hawkesbury City in an interesting clash on Saturday night at Rydalmere Park, with both teams in good form of late.
With 8 wins and 1 draw to their name in this campaign, the Lions are sitting pretty on top of the ladder on 25 points, two ahead of rivals, Fraser Park.
Rydalmere touched up Inter Lions on Tuesday night, but they will find it tougher against a Hawkesbury side that has climbed to fifth spot on the back of a resurgence of form of late. It will be a testing four days for the Hawks, who would’ve played the top two sides within 72 hours. Having already lost 0-2 to Fraser Park on Wednesday, they will be out to avoid losing touch with the top two by taking something home from this match.
The clash also brings together the league’s top two marksmen, who have both remarkably only played seven matches. Rydalmere’s Amaury Gauthier grabbed an incredible seven goals in Tuesday night’s big win over Inter, taking his season’s tally to 15, whilst Hawkesbury’s Santiago Pallares Palomeque has notched twelve goals in response. Both defences will no doubt be on notice.
Stanmore Hawks will look to close the three point gap between them and their opponents, Sydney University, when they meet head on at Arlington Oval on Saturday, the match kicking off at 3-00pm.
In Petros Stefadouros (Stanmore) and Matthew Akehurst (Sydney Uni), both sides have youthful strikers who have been finding the net of late. But in Lloyd Owusu (Stanmore) and Domenic Di Mento (Syd Uni) they also possess the experience in the front third that is required to keep the youngsters in check, so expect a real arm wrestle here with a draw the most likely outcome.
Granville Rage will host Inter Lions at Garside Park on Saturday evening, hoping to build on the fighting spirit they showed last weekend. Down 0-2 and down to ten men, the Rage stormed back with goals by Goran Ljuboja and Ryan Faulkner to take a well-deserved point in a 2-2 draw against Sydney University.
Inter Lions are in the midst of a poor run, culminating in a calamitous few days by losing heavily to both Hawkesbury City and Rydalmere Lions over the past week. But there is nothing more dangerous than a team with wounded pride, a team of Lions at that, and given the capability of some of the Inter players, Granville should be wary when they face off on Saturday night.
In Saturday’s other two fixtures, both kicking off at 7-00pm; Dunbar Rovers will be hoping for nothing short of three points against St George City FA at Hensley Athletic Field in order to kick start their ascent up the ladder, whilst a win to third placed City is a must if they are to keep on the heels of the top two; Dulwich Hill will make the trek to Proctor Park in Bathurst hoping to bounce back after last week’s loss to Fraser Park, but they will face the wrath of the locals who will be out in numbers to cheer on their Western NSW Mariners.
In the first match on Sunday, Gladesville Ryde Magic welcome SD Raiders to Magdala Park for a 3-00pm kick off, and with four points separating the two sides currently in 6th and 11th places respectively, you can expect plenty of intensity in this ‘six-pointer’.
Fraser Park will be backing up from their midweek victory versus Hawkesbury when they entertain Balmain Tigers at home late on Sunday afternoon at 5-00pm. Balmain notched their first point of the season last week in an entertaining 2-2 draw against Dunbar, and will have to lift another level or two if they are to snatch anything from this match against the second placed, undefeated Fraser.
