Round 14 Preview & Mid-season Review – PS4 NPL 3 NSW Men’s
As fans, we can only assume and expect that there is more excitement and plenty of goals ahead as we turn the corner and approach the second half of the 2017 PlayStation®4 National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition.
The first half of the season has provided some marvellous performances, both from an individual and team perspective, with the thirteen rounds producing a grand total of 347 goals at an average of just shy of 4 goals per game.
Fraser Park are the leaders at the halfway point, still undefeated with 11 wins and 2 draws from their 13 matches, but are only a point in front of Rydalmere Lions, the competition’s perennial achievers, who themselves have managed a mammoth 50 goals on their way to second spot on the ladder.
The two teams who were promoted from the State League have performed very nicely indeed in their debut season, with St George City FA sitting in 3rd spot after 7 wins and 3 draws.
SD Raiders are a very creditable 8th on the ladder on 16 points, and were in the spotlight at the end of May when they became the only side from the PlayStation NPL 3 competition to reach Round Seven of the Westfield FFA Cup, before losing gallantly to APIA Leichhardt from the PS4 NPL NSW Men’s top tier league.
The competition has been very close this season, evidenced by the ladder which has ten teams separated by just 12 points between 3rd and 3rd from bottom, and on any given day any side is in danger of losing the spoils if they don’t show up.
On the goal scoring front, Amaury Gauthier has helped himself to 19 goals in 11 matches – or 38% of Rydalmere’s total goals – to lead the charts, including what could be a record breaking seven goals in his teams’ 11-0 whitewash of Inter Lions on May 9. Second on the list is Santiago Pallares Palomeque, who has also performed admirably with 14 goals in 12 matches, making up a whopping 48% of Hawkesbury City’s total goals.
Other notable mentions include Tai Smith, who notched up 11 goals in 12 matches for Fraser Park before his sudden departure from the club to the Mounties Wanderers last week; Tod Bamber, who has 11 goals in 13 matches for the resurgent Dunbar Rovers; the experienced Ben Vidaic is starting to hit his straps for Fraser Park and has 10 goals in 12 matches; St George City FA’s Aleksander Jovovic, who hit 8 goals in 10 matches before missing recent weeks with injury; and Zachary Watters, who has 8 goals across 13 outings for Rydalmere Lions.
If you do not concede goals, you don’t lose games, and at the other end of the park it is the undefeated Fraser Park who have only conceded a miserly 7 goals in their 13 matches, including 7 clean sheets. Anthony Costa donned the gloves at the beginning of the season, and Chris Becerra took over once Costa suffered an injury, but both have proven critical in keeping the ball out of their net, along with a sturdy defensive line lead by skipper, Nick Dimitropoulos.
Kyriakos Tohouroglou has proven he is like a bottle of wine and getting better with age, with the 45 year old only conceding 18 goals in between the sticks for Gladesville Ryde Magic, also with the assistance of a well-structured backline lead by Lachlan Harte. Rydalmere Lions have also only conceded 18 goals, with skipper, Matthew Mayora, and his defence protecting their keeper, Harrick Sinpraseuth, with some stellar performances.
St George City FA (19), Dulwich Hill (19), and Granville Rage (20) have also proven tough defensive nuts to crack during the opening half of the season.
Round 14 Preview
Round Fourteen kicks off at David Bertenshaw Field on Saturday afternoon, with Hawkesbury City meeting Dulwich Hill at 5-30pm.
The two sides are only separated by a win, with Dully 4th on 22 points whilst the Hawks are 6th on 19 points, knowing a win will take them above their match day opponents.
Midfield maestro, Luke Giverin, got the solitary goal back in Round One when Dulwich Hill won 1-0, and another close encounter can be expected this time around with so much at stake.
All eyes will be at Fraser Park on Saturday night when 3rd placed St George City FA welcome the visit of 2nd placed Rydalmere Lions for a 7-00pm kick off.
Although there are ten points separating the two sides, St George City FA will be craving a win to have any chance of pegging the Lions back and closing the big gap.
The previous encounter was an unbelievable spectacle for the neutral fan when the two teams shared 11 goals back on the opening day of the season.
Rydalmere Lions took an early 2-1 lead, before St George City responded to be 4-2 in front at the break, only for the Lions to absolutely storm home with five unanswered goals after the break to win 7-4. There were nine different scorers that day reflecting the fire power that both teams will have on display once again this week.
Stanmore Hawks entertain Dunbar Rovers on Saturday night at Arlington Oval, with both teams desperate for a win in order to commence their push towards the top half of the ladder.
Stanmore are in 7th position on 17 points, but know that they will be hurdled if they lose to 10 placed Dunbar who are two points behind on 15.
Stanmore have had a solid three games in recent weeks, collecting seven points whilst only conceding the one solitary goal, whilst Dunbar have collected six from six points in their last two weeks, coinciding with the return of prodigal sons, Andrew Doddy and Stephen Deasy, back to Hensley.
The opening round produced a narrow 2-1 win for Stanmore Hawks – courtesy of a long range winner from skipper, Ian Hillier – so expect a similar tight affair in this one as both teams battle for the points on offer.
In the final Saturday evening match up, Granville Rage welcome the visit of competition leaders, Fraser Park, to Garside Park for a 7-00pm kick off.
Despite sitting in 11th position on the ladder with only two wins this season, Granville Rage have proven a difficult side to overcome, drawing six games and only conceding 20 goals.
No Tai Smith? No worries! Fraser Park despatched Inter Lions 7-0 in their first match without Smith, and showed the sum of all its parts is of greater importance of any individual with plenty of quality across the park.
Fraser Park won back in Round One, but they scored late to clinch the match 3-1, so expect a similar arm wrestle when the two teams meet at the historical Garside Park.
Gladesville Ryde Magic have a real opportunity to close the gap on the teams above them when they meet Sydney University at Magdala Park on Sunday afternoon at 3-00pm.
With Tomaras and Gaitatzis hitting their straps in recent weeks, Magic has seemingly awoken from its slumber, and are now sitting in 9th position on 15 points, only 5 points behind the ‘students’.
Sydney University are in 5th spot on 20 points, and will be hoping for nothing short of a win to keep up the pressure on both Dulwich Hill and St George City FA above them.
The Round One fixture was an incredibly tight affair, with only the one goal in it, coming from the boot of Gladesville Ryde Magic’s keeper extraordinaire, Kyriakos Tohouroglou, who converted a penalty, and there is no reason to believe this match will be anything other than a similarly hard fought encounter this time around.
Balmain Tigers meet SD Raiders at Valentine Sports Park on Sunday at 7pm, taking confidence from their closely fought 2-3 loss last weekend at the hands of Rydalmere Lions.
New signings and a renewed vigour have given Balmain hope that they can start their ascent up the ladder, a hope that relies on goals from their frontline of Dario Vujovic, Raffaele Moniaci and Rosario Occhipinti.
SD Raiders will be looking to return to the winner’s circle in a big way, following three successive league defeats, and hope they can replicate their opening day triumph when they hit Balmain for half a dozen in a 6-2 win, including a brace of goals to Tyrone Gatt and Mitsuki Nakada.
Western NSW Mariners will have plenty to play for when they visit Fraser Park at 5-00pm on Sunday afternoon, knowing that a win over Inter Lions will take them above Inter on the competition ladder.
Both sides have been struggling of late, and will be desperate for the three points, not just to climb away from the basement of the ladder, but also for what it will do for confidence across their respective camps.
Inter Lions would love nothing more than a repeat of the Round One result, when they brought home three points from Orange on the back of a 5-1 thumping of the Mariners, courtesy of a Daniel Fogarty hat-trick. But there has been plenty of water that has flowed under the bridge since that day, and Inter can expect a much sterner test when the two sides renew their battle late on Sunday afternoon.
