Round 14 Preview – State League Men’s

It’s the most unwanted trophy in football, but Round 14 of the Men’s State League Competition could finally tell us which unlucky club will collect this year’s Wooden Spoon.

Wagga City Wanderers (8^th) vs Prospect United (6^th) – Saturday 3pm

If you were going to choose a soundtrack for the Prospect United season, look no further than Katy Perry’s Hot & Cold. In a season that has seen them claim impressive wins over UNSW and Hurstville FC, they have also suffered a dismal defeat to Western Condors and a disheartening draw to bottom-placed FC Gazy.

Unless Prospect manage to cure the curse of inconsistency they won’t be playing finals football this season. But with very winnable games in the next few rounds, don’t rule out Camilleri’s side just yet.

Wagga City will be sweating on the fitness of key players after their gruelling defeat to UNSW last round. They played some impressive football in that match, but failed to translate good build-up into goals. The Wagga crowd will be in full voice in this match, knowing if they can pull off an upset, they will surely end the season of one of their competition rivals.

Bankstown United (1^st) vs Camden Tigers (4^th) – Saturday 7pm

Someone grab the popcorn – this is going to be a cracker!

The league’s two best attacking sides coming together in what many are calling a semi, or even grand final, preview.

Spearheading these lethal attacks are Camden’s Jayden Russell and Bankstown’s Tom Markovski. Russell leads the goal-scoring charts with 11 goals, but Markovski is nipping at his heels with 10.

Which player will fire their team to a crucial win on Saturday night?

Will Markovski’s Bankstown take another step towards the premiership title?

Or will Camden roar to a mighty win, cementing their claim as genuine contenders in 2017?

Hurstville City Minotaurs (7^th) vs UNSW (2^nd) – Saturday 7pm

After 7 points in 3 games, it looked increasingly likely that Hurstville City would sneak their way into a top four spot this season.

However, defeat away to Nepean last round has all but ended their top four hopes.

And with time fast running out in the season, if the Minotaurs want to resurrect these hopes, they simply must win this game.

With Bankstown facing a touch match against Camden, UNSW will be hoping to capitalise on any dropped points and close the gap at the top of the table.

Can UNSW catch Bankstown United in the race for the premiership?

Or will Hurstville City Minotaurs pull a rabbit out of their hat and keep their top four ambitions alive?

FC Gazy Auburn (10^th) vs Western Condors (9^th) – Sunday 3pm – Match of the Round

Open up your cutlery draw and you’ll find it there.

Hidden amongst bottle openers, forks, knives and tongs – the dreaded wooden spoon.

It’s the trophy that nobody wants. The title nobody wants to have.

But on Sunday afternoon, these two teams will battle it out to make sure they are not the ones holding the wooden spoon come season’s end.

For both FC Gazy and Western Condors, it’s been a season to forget. And for both sets of fans, there has been little to cheer.

But in this game there is everything to play for. If Western Condors win, they’ll condemn FC Gazy to the bottom of the table, with a goal differential that will mean even a potential victory over Wagga at season’s end won’t be enough to prevent the wooden spoon calling Auburn home.

For FC Gazy, a win over Western Condors will lift them off the bottom of the table for the first time since round 5 this year. It will also provide them with the momentum boost needed to ensure they don’t slip back down there in the final rounds of the competition.

A massive game with massive implications at the bottom of the table, but with all the excitement as a genuine top of the table clash.

Hurstville FC (5^th) vs Nepean FC (3^rd) – Sunday 5pm

At half-time last week, Hurstville FC were leading Camden 1-0 and Nepean were drawing 1-1 with the Minotaurs. If the scores remained the same, the competition table would look very differently than it does now.

Nevertheless, the second half brought very different fortunes for each side. Hurstville conceded 3 in the space of 10 minutes in their loss to Camden, and Nepean scored 3 to comprehensively win 4-1.

As a result, Nepean sits comfortably inside the top four and Hurstville are doing their best Anastacia impersonation, being ‘left outside alone’.

If Nepean claims victory in this match, then the top four race could be over, even with 4 rounds still to play.

It’s all on the line for Hurstville FC as they make one last push to fight their way into a finals’ position.

Can they keep their finals dreams alive? Or will Nepean deal one final dagger in the Hurstville heart?

Form Guide:

Bankstown United (W,W,W)

Nepean FC (W,W,L)

Camden Tigers (W,D,W)

UNSW (W,L,W)

Prospect United (D,W,L)

FC Gazy Auburn (D,L,L)

Hurstville FC (L,W,W)

Hurstville City Minotaurs (L,D,W)

Wagga City Wanderers (L, L, L)

Western Condors (L,L,L)

– By Ryan Latty