Match of the Round
South Cardiff FC v Belmont Swansea United FC
Ulinga Oval, Sunday 2:30pm
This weekend’s Match of the Round at Ulinga Oval is a must-win game for the home side as South Cardiff prepares to host Belmont Swansea United on Sunday.
The Gunners have slipped from fifth to eighth over the past month following three losses and a weekend off with a bye, and they are now six points back from their fifth-placed Round 22 opponents.
BelSwans are on 24 points following back-to-back victories during the past fortnight, while South Cardiff have stayed on 18.
Gunners coach Perry Mellon labelled this Sunday’s match a must-win game for his side’s finals hopes, and he wants to see his men leave nothing out on the field.
“I want to see the boys put in a big shift at home against BelSwans. It’s basically do or die for our season,” Mellon said.
“They are six points ahead of us, so if they beat us, it becomes nine points. It’s hard to haul back from there.
“We just need to put in maximum effort and follow the game plan. We’ll be lining up similar to the past few weeks - no one back or no one gone. We may come out with a different shape and try a few things to see if we can turn the tide a little bit.”
Mellon thought his side had been unlucky this season with both player availability and the bounce of the ball. He said he hoped that would turn during the back end of the campaign.
The Gunners are still without Sam Modderno and Jamie Subat through suspension and Izaac Terry and Riley West through injury, which Mellon said was a real test of the side’s depth, but he expects everyone who pulls on a Gunners shirt to step up and help save their season.
One area that the South Cardiff men need to shore up in order to do that is defence. They have been in fine form in front of goal this season, having netted the second-most number of goals with 43, but they have conceded a competition-worst 52 goals in 18 games at the other end.
“We’ve conceded way too many goals and that has been the downfall for us,” Mellon said.
“We’ve scored the second most amount of goals, we’re not struggling to find the back of the net, we’re just struggling to keep them out.
“On the weekend against Toronto, we conceded six, but there was a really bad goalkeeper error and Nick Roberts scored two absolute worldies. We are conceding too many goals but the ball just isn’t bouncing our way for the last six or seven games. Nearly every shot the opposition has goes in. We haven’t had much luck and hopefully that turns soon.”
While the Gunners’ season has hit a snag, BelSwans’ campaign is certainly on the up. Mick Stafford has been in charge for a full round of games now and his influence over the side has been positive.
Stafford said that he was pleased to see his side nearing full strength and key players finally getting minutes under their belts, and he now wants to see the team producing 90-minute performances.
“We have key players finally hitting their straps. It’s been a tough year, squad-wise, with blokes in and out all the time, and now we’re finally seeing our key players get good minutes and they’re starting to click together,” Stafford said.
“I think we have played very good for periods and then six out of ten for others. The focus now will be to try and be more consistent over the 90 minutes, rather than playing good in patches.”
Mellon said he thought that these two sides were evenly matched and often bring out the best in each other. They both have a win against one another this year and their aggregate score is 6-6 after South Cardiff won 6-3 at home in Round 4 back in March, and then BelSwans prevailed 3-0 on their home turf in Round 14 in May.
Both sides will be hoping to heat things up under the afternoon sun at Ulinga Oval this Sunday.
Toronto Awaba FC v Thornton Redbacks FC
Lyall Peacock Field, Saturday 2:30pm
League-leaders Toronto Awaba will host Thornton Redbacks at Lyall Peacock Field on Saturday afternoon in a game that could go a long way towards their premiership hopes.
The equation is quite simple for the Stags - two more wins and they are guaranteed to finish on top of the table. They are on 44 points with six rounds remaining in the 2023 campaign, 10 points clear of both West Wallsend and Singleton.
A Stags victory on Saturday would see them move to 47 points and would mean they’d only require one win from their final four games to lock up first place.
There is quite a special feeling around the club at the moment. Former player and current reserve grade coach Kristopher Cook was in charge of the first-grade side during their recent two victories while Jarrad Hiles was away on holidays.
Cook said that he loves having a role at the club and thoroughly enjoyed taking the first-grade side.
“I loved it,” Cook said.
“I was part of that playing group for three years, but I’m not playing this year because of my knee. Just to be in and around the boys is something I love. They make it easy too. Everyone respects everyone in that group, and that’s the best thing.
“The culture that we’ve got in there at the moment is unreal and everyone’s enjoying it. We’re mostly local boys, with a few from around the other side of the lake. Both grades are doing really well, and it’s because the boys are getting to training and enjoying being there together. We have a laugh and joke but we’re serious when we need to be.
“There’s a really good feeling going around at the moment. We’re starting to see more of the local community get up there on the hill and the boys notice that as well.”
Thornton will not have played for more than two weeks come game day, having had the bye last weekend and played on the Friday in Round 20. They have recently slipped from fifth to seventh on the table and are now five points below fifth-placed Belmont Swansea United.
Redbacks coach Nima Nikfarjam has said finals football is his side’s goal this year, and a win against the league-leaders away from home this weekend would go a long way towards them achieving that goal.
Despite the 25-point gap between these two teams on the table, there has not been much between them when they’ve met this season. They drew 3-3 at Lyall Peacock Field when they first faced off back in March, and then the Stags edged out the Redbacks 2-1 during their next meeting at Thornton Park in May.
Toronto Awaba fired home six goals in their most recent match as they downed South Cardiff 6-2 last Sunday, but they won’t have it all their way when they host the Redbacks this weekend.
West Wallsend SFC v Cessnock City Hornets FC
Johnston Park, Sunday 2:30pm
Two teams coming off a loss will go head-to-head on Sunday when West Wallsend host Cessnock City Hornets at Johnston Park.
The Bluebells were beaten 2-1 in the derby against Wallsend last weekend as they lost for just the second time in their past 10 games.
Last weekend’s result dealt West Wallsend’s premiership hopes a major blow as they now sit 10 points back from Toronto Awaba in second spot with five games left to play, however, coach Bailey Cox is still eyeing off top spot.
“Hopefully we can start a little bit better this weekend and hopefully we can get a little bit of composure in front of goal. We missed some sitters against Wallsend,” Cox said.
“The goal is still to try and catch Toronto. I know it’s looking like they are going to have to choke big time for it to happen, but we want to finish on as many points as we can. And if we don’t win it, we want second spot, and the closer we are to Toronto, the better.”
The Hornets went down 5-0 away from home against Belmont Swansea United last Saturday and are now at the bottom of the ladder, six points outside the top five.
This weekend’s game gives them a chance to rise up the table and kick-start a finals push.
These two sides have one win over one another during the 2023 campaign after Cessnock prevailed 3-1 when they met at Johnston Park back in March before the Bluebells won 4-0 at Turner Park in May.
Cessnock are hoping to keep the away winning trend going this Sunday, while the Bluebells will be doing all they can to return to winning ways on home soil.
Kahibah FC v Wallsend FC
Kahibah Oval, Sunday 2:30pm
Kahibah and Wallsend will be hoping to keep their momentum rolling when they meet at Kahibah Oval on Sunday.
The two teams were both winners away from home in Round 21 when Kahibah downed Singleton 3-1 on Saturday and Wallsend edged out West Wallsend 2-1 on Sunday.
The Red Devils’ derby victory saw them snap a three-game losing streak and climb off the bottom of the table to finish the weekend in sixth place, just three points behind fifth-placed Belmont Swansea.
After finishing last in 2022, the Wallsend men have finals on their minds this season and a positive result this Sunday against a team that will be playing finals football would be a significant step in the right direction.
Kahibah’s victory against Singleton ended a four-game winless run and saw them move within four points of the third-placed Strikers and the second-placed Bluebells.
Head-to-head form is in Kahibah’s favour for this game after they scored wins of different magnitudes against Wallsend earlier in the season. They demolished the Red Devils 7-0 back in March, but then prevailed 2-1 in a much closer game in May. Wallsend are now looking to turn their improvement into three points this Sunday.
Singleton Strikers FC have the bye.