Round 7 – National Premier League NSW Men’s 3 Preview
It is a fairly congested ladder in the National Premier Leagues 3 NSW Men’s competition as we eagerly approach Round Seven this weekend.
The top half of the league are separated by just five points, with the top four all within a victory of each other, and two of those – Bankstown City Lions and Hawkesbury City – still undefeated, although even they have dropped four points with two draws apiece.
At the other end of the ladder, two teams remain without a win, but all in the bottom half will know that things will begin to become very desperate if they cannot pick up maximum points this week.
The seven matches are scheduled over both days this weekend, over four different timeslots, with five games on Saturday and the other two on Sunday.
Western NSW Mariners are one those teams without a victory as yet, and things won’t be any easier this Saturday when they welcome St George City FA to the Glen Willow Stadium for a 5-30pm kick off.
St George City FA hit their straps last Saturday, smacking Magic for five in a comprehensive display that has been coming.
Geoffry Lino had a whale of a game up front for St George amongst a host of good players, and City will look for nothing short than another comprehensive win to stay in touch with the leaders.
Stanmore Hawks will look to bounce back from their heavy reverse last week against Rage when they entertain Dunbar Rovers at Arlington Oval, the match scheduled for 7pm on Saturday night.
The Hawks won’t find it easy going though against a Rovers side that have had two wins on the bounce over four days, a 7-2 victory in the FFA Cup followed up by a 2-0 win against Sydney Uni on the Saturday.
Ryan Shaughnessy seems to have found his scoring boots, netting five goals across those games, and he will be a danger man to watch for the home side come game time.
SD Raiders were shocked last week against Hawkesbury, and will need to put that behind them when they face the dangerous Dulwich Hill at Ernie Smith Reserve on Saturday night at 7pm.
The Raiders have been scoring goals for fun in both league and Cup, but were kept scoreless for the first time this season, and will be ready to put that right against Dully.
Dully on the other hand have had a slow start to 2018, but a 5-1 triumph last week looks like they may have just turned the corner, and with Nathan Jagelman now amongst the goals, the team from the inner west can look to a number of attacking players who could hurt the Raiders.
Both sides have a flamboyant attacking philosophy, so the scoreboard attendant better be on red alert for an exciting clash at Ernie Smith.
Camden Tigers will be out to upset the applecart at Jensen Park on Saturday night, and with good cause, when they tackle league leaders, Bankstown City Lions.
The Tigers had a solid 4-0 win last week, giving them their 3rd triumph of the season following their promotion in the summer from the State League, and will be confident of finding the net given their 19 goals this campaign thus far.
Bankstown City will back themselves at home, and have their own firepower across the front third, but will have their work cut out for them to keep the Camden attack quiet.
Both sides are fiercely competitive, as you would expect in a battle between ‘lions’ and ‘tigers’, so a bruising encounter with goals could be on the menu for the fans on Saturday night.
In the remaining games of Round Seven, Fraser Park will be hoping for their first win of the season when they welcome Granville Rage to Marrickville on Saturday night, but the Rage will be aiming for back to back wins to extend the gap between the two clubs near the bottom; Sydney University will have their work cut out for themselves at Arlington Oval on Sunday afternoon when they entertain the in-form Hawkesbury City at 3pm, with the undefeated Hawks flying high at the top of the ladder: and Gladesville Ryde Magic will hope a move to the artificial surface at Christie Park might bring them some much needed good fortune when they face the tenacious Inter Lions on Sunday afternoon at 4pm.
GOLDEN BOOT (after Round Six)
With almost a quarter of the season behind us, the race for the golden boot is well under way, with 12 players separated by just three goals, and four of those players having scored at a rate of a goal per game or better.
Two players are leading the way, having scored 7 goals in 6 matches.
Ante Tomic has been in fine form since his transfer from NPL Mens side, Sydney United, and has in fact scored in 5 of his club’s 6 matches in a great show of consistency for an attacking midfielder.
Jayden Russell has also scored 7 goals this season for the newly promoted Camden Tigers, including a hatrick last weekend in a 4-0 rout against Fraser Park.
Two players find themselves on 6 goals so far this campaign, with Daniel Morsillo of Hawkesbury City actually scoring his half dozen in just 5 matches played. Morsillo has netted 60% of his team’s goals, and spearheaded the Hawks to equal first on the competition ladder in their best start in recent years.
Another player on 6 goals is youngster Ben Welch of the SD Raiders, helped by a hatrick in his side’s 5-3 win over Camden in Round Three. Welch in fact has managed all of his goals on his home patch at Ernie Smith Reserve, something this week’s opponents, Dulwich Hill should be wary of.
Just behind the leading pack are Sam Messam, the marauding flanker from St George City FA, and Bankstown City skipper, Nikola Todorovski, who have both found the net on 5 occasions as both their clubs continue solid starts to this campaign.
There are a group of players hot on their heels on 4 goals, including the experienced pair of Scott Tonkin of Sydney University, and Stanmore’s Neil Jablonski, plus Bailey Simpson of Camden Tigers, Geoffry Lino of St George City FA, Raiders’ tricky winger, Daniel Bittar, and Gladesville Ryde Magic’s evergreen skipper, Chris Gaitatzis.
