Northern Inland Premier League teams have now had a month to settle in and the action is set to heat up in round five with some blockbuster matches on the cards.
Two of this year’s favourites will go head-to-head at the Inverell Sporting Complex when Inverell FC host Oxley Vale Attunga FC, while in-form duo Demon Knights and North Companions meet at Rologas Sporting Fields in Armidale. Namoi United are at home in Narrabri where they will host Hillvue Rovers FC at Hogan Oval, South Armidale United FC and East Armidale United FC will battle it out in the local derby at New England Mutual Armidale Sportsground, Moore Creek FC will welcome Norths United FC to Riverside 4A and South United FC will host Armidale City Westside at Riverside 3A.
Tamworth FC will sit the weekend out with the bye.
It was goals galore again last weekend, headlined by Moore Creek stamping their authority on the competition with an 11-0 demolition of South United at Riverside.
Demon Knights also won big while keeping a clean sheet when they took down fellow Armidale outfit Norths United at Rologas Sporting Fields, OVA travelled to Armidale where they outscored East Armidale United 4-1 at Doody Park, the two games in Tamworth saw North Companions beat South Armidale United 3-1 at Marius Street Number Two while Armidale City Westside scored a 2-0 away win against Hillvue Rovers, and at Hogan Oval in Narrabri the away side Tamworth FC prevailed 2-1 against Namoi United.
Inverell had the bye in round four which saw them finish the weekend ranked third on the Northern Conference table, and they are raring to go against fellow undefeated side Oxley Vale Attunga on Saturday in round five.
OVA are on top of the Southern Conference table following three wins and a draw, and Inverell’s coach Damien Schutz predicted that the 2023 minor premiers would their toughest test yet come Saturday.
“They’ll be tough and they’ll be turning up to play us. I think everyone’s turning up to play us this year,” Schutz said.
“We’re expecting a tough one from them. It’s not going to be easy.
“They’re a quality outfit and they have been for a long time. They have some class players across the field.
“It will be a challenge but the boys are looking forward to it.
“Our start has to the season been okay. I think the Australia Cup took its toll in the pre-season. The boys have been a little bit flat and they picked up a couple of injuries, but they’re going okay now.”
Schutz is not only eyeing off three points against the NIPL heavyweights on home soil this Saturday; he is also after a 90-minute performance from his men, something they have not produced so far during their first two league matches.
“The guys have been playing okay, but the second half hasn’t been the best in both games,” the Inverell coach said.
“I want us to be able to finish off the second half a bit better, that’s my aim this weekend, to finish the game off stronger and not be complacent going into the second half.
“The boys are definitely not running out of legs. We’ve just been dropping our standards a bit and getting a bit scrappy and a bit loose.They’ve been working hard on that at training so hopefully this weekend we can turn it around.”
Another blockbuster contest is in store at Rologas Sporting Fields where Demon Knights will host North Companions.
New coaches David Johnson (North Companions) and Rob James (Demon Knights) have their sides firing early as they both currently sit in second place on their respective conferences’ tables with nine points. Northies have won three of their first four games and have only lost once, while DK are one of four undefeated sides across the entire competition following three consecutive wins.
Demon Knights have only conceded once in their three matches and have banged in 10 at the other end, so North Companions have a tough task on their hands as they attempt to stay ahead of Moore Creek on the table.
The Mountain Goats are currently ranked third in the Southern Conference but they are in red-hot form. After losing their first game of the season 3-1 away from home against Demon Knights in round two, Andy Cygan’s men have won two matches a combined 17 goals to 2 either side of a nil-all stalemate against OVA in a rescheduled round one clash.
Back-to-back clean sheets including an 11-0 win against South United at Riverside 4A against South United last Saturday have filled the Moore Creek men with confidence heading into round five.
Cygan has been impressed with his side’s efforts in the final third and in defence, and he rated their start to the year as “really good”.
“The first game, that defeat against Demon Knights, we are trying to look at as a one off,” Cygan said.
“It sounds like a poor excuse but the grass was very long and it slowed us down.
“From there, we’ve been pretty good since. In the double header, we did well against Hillvue on the Saturday, and then backing up on the Sunday against OVA, there weren’t many highlights but we did have two really good chances and their keeper pulled brilliant saves off. We were unlucky not to get three points there.
“Souths last weekend was one of those games where we had 20 shots and we scored 11. We also had a lot of corners that we didn’t capitalise on.
“There were eight different scorers last weekend, and against Hillvue when we won 6-2, there were six different scorers. Everyone is getting up there and doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
“The big positive though is the two clean sheets in our past two games.”
Cygan said he was looking forward to a tough game against Norths United on home soil this Saturday and that he expected his men to secure their third win of the year.
“I reckon they’ll be quite hard, but I do feel more comfortable playing them in Tamworth than over there,” the Goats coach declared.
“I’d be hoping that we take three points out of that one.”
In Narrabri, Namoi United and Hillvue Rovers’ match-up at Hogan Oval is an intriguing one. Both sides are winless across their first three games in both grades and are looking to get off the mark, and the first grade sides will both be determined to win to ensure they don’t fall too far behind OVA, North Companions and Moore Creek, who are threating to break away from the rest of the pack in the Southern Conference.
It’s a similar scenario in the Northern Conference when the two bottom-ranked sides East Armidale and South Armidale meet at New England Mutual Armidale Sportsground. Both are yet to earn a point and they are determined to turn their early-season slumps around.
South United will also be searching for their first win of the season in round five, but the Lightning will need to be at their best when they take on the form team of the competition, Armidale City Westside. Westside are flying and have established themselves as the team to beat so far, banging in 22 goals across their opening three games and keeping clean sheets in all three outings to set themselves up at the top of the Northern Conference table.