NPL Women’s NNSW Rescheduled Round Preview: Eagles look to finally break their duck against Adamstown
MATCH OF THE ROUND
NEW LAMBTON FC V ADAMSTOWN ROSEBUD JFC
ALDER PARK, SATURDAY 3.40PM
New Lambton will host Adamstown Rosebud at Alder Park on Saturday afternoon in their rescheduled round nine match looking to finally notch their first win of the season.
The Eagles will be looking to bounce back after a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle Olympic last weekend and a 13-1 loss to Maitland on Wednesday night in their rescheduled round 14 fixture.
Sitting in last place on the competition table with zero wins from 17 games, New Lambton are using the remaining games of the season to work on putting up 90-minute performances and improving their defence.
Following a tough midweek game against Maitland, Mackenzie Davis’ side will be looking to improve their intensity heading into the weekend.
“It’s important that we keep our intensity up in the tight window [between games],” Davis said.
“We have not had an ideal preparation with the limited down time between fixtures but the squad is looking to build on our positive performances from the last few rounds.”
Rosebud will be heading into this weekend’s game full of confidence after defeating Mid Coast 7-1 last weekend.
Adamstown will look to add another win to their tally of five and add a further three points to their name.
Having scored an impressive 56 goals from 17 games, the fourth highest in the league, Adamstown will be looking to continue their goal scoring tirade.
Adamstown have come away victors the previous two times these sides have met this season.
An impressive 8-0 win in round two and an 11-0 thrashing in round 16 saw Adamstown take six points from New Lambton.
MAITLAND FC V MID COAST FC
COOKS SQUARE PARK, SUNDAY 3.40PM
Maitland will be looking for a crucial win when they host Mid Coast at Cooks Square Park on Sunday afternoon in their rescheduled round eight match.
The Magpies are on 25 points, five points behind fourth-placed Newcastle Olympic. A win to Maitland this weekend will be vital in keeping them within top four contention.
Having fallen short in the dying minutes against top four teams over the last three rounds, Maitland will be looking to bounce back and re-join the winner’s circle.
The Magpies gave themselves some confidence with a 13-1 thrashing of New Lambton in their rescheduled round 14 fixture on Wednesday night.
Mid Coast will also be looking to get a win this weekend to add another to their tally of three for the season.
Sitting on 10 points, Middies are seventh on the table and will not be playing finals this season.
Instead Mick Grass and his squad are turning their attention to putting on some good performances and finishing the season strongly.
“We’re just trying to put some good performances on the park which isn’t easy,” Grass said.
“We’re finding ourselves down on troops with a few injuries and sickness but hopefully we’ll get some players back this weekend.”
Having played Maitland twice already this season, Grass and his squad know the challenge that lies ahead.
“We played [Maitland] not too long ago and I though we started that night excellently and then we just let ourselves down in the second half and kind of threw the game away,” Grass said.
“We know that if we’re at our best we can compete but we’ve got to make sure we’re consistent throughout the whole game and that’ll go a long way to getting some sort of result. If we drop our guard, Maitland are a pretty good team and they’ve got some good speed, so they’ll tear us apart if we’re not careful.”
As the season begins to come to an end, the Mid Coast squad is also battling travel fatigue, something Grass does not take lightly.
“I can’t play [the travel] down at all,” Grass said.
“I think the travelling over the course of the season and over the course of multiple seasons sort of builds up and weighs down on the players at times.
“Taree is two hours away but a lot of our players come from a lot further away than that. It’s a huge commitment for [the players] and I have the utmost respect for all our players doing what they do to be involved in the competition.”
Maitland have won both meetings between the sides so far this season.
Round one saw the Magpies take a 4-0 win against Middies while round 15 saw Maitland score a 4-2 victory.