Match of the Round
Weston Workers FC v Charlestown Azzurri FC
Rockwell Automation Park, Sunday 2:30pm
Weston Workers FC will host Charlestown Azzurri FC in this Sunday’s Match of the Round at Rockwell Automation Park.
Just one week ago, this Round 18 fixture was touted as an epic top-of-the-table clash. But both sides enter the game looking to bounce back from losses against teams in the bottom half of the table.
Charlestown’s lead at the top was cut from six points to four last weekend when they went down 4-0 away from home against ninth-placed Cooks Hill United on Saturday.
It was something that James Pascoe had not seen from his side before as they finished the game with eight players on the field following the sending offs of skipper Nigel Boogaard and fellow defender Callum Bower, and an injury when there were no substitutions left.
Boogaard and Bower will now both miss Sunday’s game through suspension.
Weston lost 3-2 at home against eighth-placed Valentine last Sunday as they fell from second to fourth on the ladder.
Both sides will view those results as minor blemishes on their otherwise successful 2023 campaigns, and they are ready to turn things around at Rockwell Automation Park on Sunday in the Match of the Round.
Weston Bears coach Kew Jaliens thought his side had created enough chances to win their previous two matches against Maitland and Valentine but conceded that their opponents were clinical while the Bears were not as they went down on both occasions.
Jailens wants his men to take a lesson out of those games and be more effective up front during what he is expecting to be a close game against the top side in the competition.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Jailens said.
“I think it will be similar to our first game against them when it was very close. Both teams had good chances. We were the team in the first half with the better play and they were in the second half. So, for us, we are going to try and play a complete game, both halves, and try to dominate the game.”
“I want to see a desire to win. I want us to play our game, keep possession, be creative and effective.
“We have been creating chances but not taking the opportunities. The teams we played, Maitland and Valentine, they were very effective with the chances they got and the goals they scored. That’s a good lesson for us to be as direct and effective as we can with the chances we create.”
Jaliens’ side will be at full strength on Sunday, with the coach having to make some tough decisions on his starting lineup.
The last time these two teams met was back in Round Seven in April Weston won 2-1 away from home.
That loss was only one of four losses for Charlestown this year and they are now determined to turn the tables on Weston this Sunday.
New Lambton FC v Broadmeadow Magic FC
Alder Park, Saturday 2:30pm
Broadmeadow Magic are hoping to get themselves back in the top five when they travel to Alder Park to challenge New Lambton on Saturday.
Back-to-back losses have seen Magic fall from third to sixth, however, they are just one point behind the three teams ahead of them with five games left to play.
Magic had their chances in 1-0 losses against Lambton and Maitland over the past fortnight but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Goal scoring has not been a problem for Broadmeadow at all this year, having scored 41 goals in 15 matches before being held scoreless for the first time in Round 16 and then again last Sunday.
“I don’t feel like our form has been that bad, to be fair. It’s more we just need to take our opportunities and be more ruthless in the final third,” Broadmeadow Magic coach John Bennis said.
“Good goalkeeping has been a part of it though, especially against Maitland, their goalkeeper had a blinder on Sunday. Against Lambton, I felt that we went into our shell a little bit. We dominated possession and got in areas to shoot but didn’t pull the trigger. But against Maitland, we had the chances to win the game.”
Despite slipping to sixth, Bennis and his men are choosing to focus on who’s up next rather than worrying about the table and other results around the grounds.
“I feel that we just need to concentrate week by week now and obviously New Lambton is the next hurdle,” Bennis said.
“We’ll be focused on that and the rest will take care of itself. As long as we can keep on putting good performances in and taking our opportunities, we should be around the mark.”
Broadmeadow scored a 5-0 victory at home against New Lambton earlier in the season in May, but Bennis is expecting a much tougher contest come Saturday.
“It’ll be a very different game. That was a night game and now we’re back away on their pitch,” Bennis said.
“They only went down 1-0 against Edgeworth and they’re not far off the mark at all. If you don’t show up, like against any team in the competition, you get beat.
“We have to take a positive attitude into a game that we should be trying to win.”
Lambton Jaffas FC v Adamstown Rosebud FC
Arthur Edden Oval, Saturday 2:30pm
Lambton Jaffas are flying at the moment, and will be looking to keep their momentum going when they host Adamstown Rosebud at Arthur Edden Oval on Saturday.
An 8-0 win at home against Lake Macquarie last Saturday propelled the Jaffas up the ladder into third as they finished the round as one of three teams on 31 points.
The Jaffas sit just two points back from second-placed Maitland and six behind top-of-the-table Charlestown. It was their second win in a row and continued a five-game unbeaten streak that has the defending champions feeling confident and ready to have another crack at the title in 2023.
The Jaffas mid-season acquisition of former A-League veteran Nikolai Topor-Stanley has worked wonders so far. The AFC Champions League winner has formed a brilliant partnership at the back next to Josh Piddington and with fellow former Newcastle Jet Ben Kennedy between the sticks that has helped secure back-to-back clean sheet victories.
The Jaffas have now kept five clean sheets in total this season, one of which was against this weekend’s opponents Adamstown when they met back in April in Round Seven.
The Rosebuds are hoping to finally find some consistency when David Rosewarne’s team come up against the in-form Jaffas.
Adamstown have won three of their past five matches and have not yet won back-to-back games all season. Rosebud will be hoping to finally do so on Saturday as they look to improve on a 2-1 victory against Newcastle Olympic at home last weekend.
Cooks Hill United FC v Edgeworth FC
Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field, Saturday 3pm
Premiership hopefuls Edgeworth face a tricky assignment on Saturday when they travel to Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field to face a team on the rise Cooks Hill United.
Cooks Hill are coming into this weekend full of confidence, having claimed their biggest scalp of the season last Saturday when they downed first-placed side Charlestown Azzurri 4-0.
The win was Cooks Hill’s second in a row as they posted back-to-back victories for the first time in the 2023 campaign, being impressive in both attack and defence.
Cooks Hill United’s first grade coach Chris Zoricich is enjoying his first year in charge at the club and is pleased with the way that everything is starting to come together on the pitch.
“The boys have been working extremely hard this season,” Zoricich said.
“It was a new bunch of players basically put together that I hadn’t seen. So, there was me coming in with a new style of coaching and a lot of the players who had not played together before.
“We had the Cooks Hill boys that had been there a few years, that had a rough couple of years, and some new boys that were signed basically from other reserve sides from last season that weren’t getting a go.
“We’re starting to, hopefully, bear the fruits of the hard work that they’ve put in for the first half of the season and the pre-season.
“I couldn’t have been happier with last weekend’s win, especially doing it against a top side like Charlestown. It shows that when we apply ourselves correctly, we can match it with the big boys.”
The Eagles are unbeaten in their past three matches and like Cooks Hill they have won their previous two. They are ranked fifth on the table but are just two points behind second-placed Maitland and one point in front of sixth-placed Broadmeadow.
With the competition being so tight with just five rounds left to play, a win against a side ranked well below them on the ladder is important for Edgeworth’s finals aspirations.
Peter McGuinness’ men could be boosted by the return of Pat Wheeler, Jacob Pepper and Tom Curran. The three players were all out injured last weekend and are all 50-50 to play on Saturday after training lightly this week.
The Eagles prevailed 3-2 at home when these two sides met earlier in the season in April and they are determined to do the double with an away win on Saturday.
Newcastle Olympic FC v Valentine FC
Darling Street Oval, Saturday 3pm
It’s a must-win game for Newcastle Olympic on Saturday when they host Valentine at Darling Street Oval.
Olympic’s finals hopes have slowly been slipping away in recent weeks as a four-game losing streak has seen them cede ground to the six teams ahead of them on the ladder.
Olympic desperately need the three points which they will have to do the hard way, as they come up against a confident Valentine outfit that knocked off Premiership hopefuls Weston 3-2 away from home last Sunday.
Valentine player-coach Adam Hughes had called on his men to be more clinical following a 0-0 draw against New Lambton a week earlier, and was pleased with the way they responded at Rockwell Automation Park.
Hughes now wants his side to be even more ruthless in the last five rounds of the regular season, starting with a struggling Olympic on Saturday.
“We need to go out and try to win every game,” Hughes said.
“Every team that comes up against us, we’ll be going in to get on the front foot.
“We’re going out there to get as many points as we can from now to the end of the season.
“We’ll also have some more younger players exposed in this time as well, but we’ll be exposing them in terms of trying to win a football match.”
Olympic will be without a couple of key men this weekend as they are missing Adam Pearce and Joe Langlois through suspension. Pearce was sent off during a 2-1 loss against Adamstown last Saturday, while Langlois misses out through yellow card accumulation.
These two teams have only scored six goals between them in the past four rounds. Expect goals in this game though as two teams intend on leaving it all on the line go head-to-head.
Maitland FC v Lake Macquarie City FC
Cook Square Park, Sunday 2:30pm
A David v Goliath battle is in store at Cook Square Park on Sunday afternoon where Maitland will host Lake Macquarie City to round out the weekend.
There is no doubt that Maitland are the most in-form team of the competition at the moment, despite the fact that they are sitting four points behind table-leaders Charlestown Azzurri.
The Magpies hold the longest active winning streak, which they extended to eight games after they beat Broadmeadow Magic 1-0 away from home last Sunday.
Maitland have also scored the most goals this season, they boast the largest for and against difference and they have the leading goal-scorer on their roster.
The Magpies’ not-so-secret weapon Braedyn Crowley has 23 goals to his name as he leads the first-grade tally by 10 from Lambton Jaffas’ Kale Bradbery.
While the Magpies are enjoying their sensational run of form, they cannot take their foot off the gas now. They have the Premiership in their sights as they sit just four points behind Charlestown, and there are also three teams just two points back and another only three points behind.
Mick Bolch’s men are well aware that they could go from a side battling for top spot to a side scraping for a place in the finals in the blink of an eye.
Lake Macquarie are hoping to produce an improved performance after they were beaten 8-0 by Lambton Jaffas last Saturday, however, it does not get any easier this weekend when they travel to take on a team that are really starting to hit their straps.