Round 1 Finals Series Preview – League Three Men’s

The League Three Men’s finals campaign is set to get underway, with two crucial matches seeing Nepean FC take on Hawkesbury City in the Preliminary Semi-Final and UNSW FC come up against Prospect United in the first match of the knockout stages. 

Preliminary Semi-Final: Nepean FC vs Hawkesbury City – Saturday 6:30pm, Valentine Sports Park

In the preliminary semi-final, Nepean FC will take on Hawkesbury City at Valentine Sports Park on Saturday night.

The Preliminary Semi-Final is hosted between the two teams who finish second and third on the ladder respectively at the conclusion of the season.

The winner of this match advances straight to the Major Semi-Final, where if winning, they advance to the Grand Final, and if losing, they get a second chance to win the big dance.

The loser, however, faces the winning of the Elimination Semi Final, where winning sees them then have to play in the Preliminary Final to make the final match of the season, while the loser bows out of the competition for the campaign.

Nepean secured a second-place finish in their final regular season match, with a draw against South Coast Flame being enough.

They have drawn their last three matches in the League Three Men competition, with other points coming against Hurstville FC and Camden Tigers.

Prior to that, they won two matches to round out their last five games, with victories coming against Parramatta FC and Western Rage.

Their unbeaten run, however, currently sits at six matches, with the side defeating UNSW FC by a single goal back in early July.

The streak is currently the second longest they’ve sustained without losing this campaign, with the other stretching early in the season and sitting at seven matches.

A win against Hawkesbury City would see them go level with their best run of the campaign and take them into the major semi-final, to give them a second chance to make the big dance.

Hawkesbury City, meanwhile, stagnated towards the end of the season, with their last three matches all ending in defeat.

They went down to a single goal on all three occasions, with consecutive 1-0 losses occurring against Parramatta FC and Camden Tigers before they went down to Prospect United 3-2 after sustaining an early red card.

Hawkesbury has been rotating in preparation for finals, but they’ll be facing a highly in form Nepean side this weekend.

Elimination Semi-Final: UNSW FC vs Prospect United – Saturday 5:30pm, Hensley Athletic Field

In the Elimination Semi-final, UNSW FC will host Prospect United on Saturday at Hensley Athletic Field.

The Elimination Semi-Final is a match between the two sides who finish fourth and fifth on the ladder, with the loser of this fixture namely bowing out of the competition for the campaign.

The winner will then play the loser of the Preliminary Semi-Final, where the loser will again be eliminated for the season, while the victor will have one more match to reach the grand final.

For one of UNSW and Prospect, their finals campaign will end after just a week, while the others could sustain across a month, should they successfully make the Grand Final.

UNSW had the chance to finish as high as second place on the ladder, with a win or draw against their last opponents Camden Tigers seeing them in the top two, forcing Hawkesbury City to conclude their campaign with a makeup match against Newcastle Jets, but a loss saw them into the Elimination Semi-Final.

Prior to the Camden fixture, UNSW was on a run of four games unbeaten in the League Three Men season, with wins against South Coast Flame and Western Rage being complimented by draws when playing Parramatta FC and Prospect United.

Their longest unbeaten streak of the campaign is nine matches, with a run beginning with a 3-2 win over South Coast Flame in Round 3 ending with a 2-1 loss to Nepean FC – it’s that match that splits their nine and four-game unbeaten run.

For Prospect, it was the opposite scenario – they made the finals off the skin of their teeth after defeating Hawkesbury City on the final day.

The win took them level with sixth place Hurstville FC, and with the same goal difference, they made the finals having scored more goals.

Prospect has won three matches in their last five, with other victories coming against South Coast Flame and Newcastle Jets, with a 2-1 defeat to the Jets their only loss in a quintet of games.

Prospect’s longest unbeaten run in the season came early in the campaign, where they went seven games without defeat to open the year of League Three Men action.

Under 20’s finals:

Preliminary Semi-Final:

Saturday 4pm, Valentine Spots Park

South Coast Flame vs Parramatta FC

Elimination Semi-Final

Saturday 3pm, Hensley Athletic Field

UNSW FC vs Prospect United