Match of the Round
Wallsend FC v South Cardiff FC
The Gardens, Sunday 2:30pm
Wallsend FC will hope that they can repeat their round one victory against South Cardiff at The Gardens on Sunday afternoon.
It was a promising start to the campaign for Wallsend when they arrived at Ulinga Oval in round one full of optimism and left with all three points following a 4-0 victory.
But since then, the Red Devils have had little joy during a seven-game losing streak that has left them anchored to the bottom of the table.
Chris Gallagher’s men have shown glimpses of brilliance and patches of quality during that luckless streak, but they have been unable to put a full 90-minute performance together to emulate their round one effort.
That is something that their coach is after this Sunday against a Gunners side that he expects will be much sharper than they were during their first encounter of the season back in February.
“To be fair, we’ve been punished for mistakes in the last seven weeks and deservedly so, and we also haven’t punished other teams for theirs,” Gallagher said.
“I want to see more resolve in defence. If you don’t concede goals, you don’t lose games, but in saying that it’s a much easier thing to say than to do.
“It’s not so much physically for us, it’s more mentally. We need the boys to be mentally tougher for 90 minutes. There are a number of boys there who don’t stop running and don’t stop trying, but it’s just those key moments of concentration that hurt us.
“We just need to do it past the 70-minute mark. We need to play 90 minutes of football like we did last time against South Cardiff, and as soon as we do that, I’m confident our season will turn rapidly.
“South Cardiff won’t come out as underprepared as they did against us last time and I’m fairly confident they won’t take us as lightly this time. They’ll come at us hard and fast, and I guess it’ll be up to our boys to see if they can withstand it.”
South Cardiff quickly switched their attention to this Sunday’s clash following a 10-0 loss at the hands of NPL Men’s NNSW powerhouses Broadmeadow Magic in preliminary round four of the Australia Cup on Wednesday night.
The Gunners' coach Perry Mellon said they would look to move on quickly and draw on their league form that has seen them go unbeaten in their past three matches.
“I think the only effects from that game we will see will be sore bodies and injuries, I can’t see there being any hangover mentally,” Mellon said.
“We’ve got Wallsend now and we haven’t beaten them in nearly two years. The boys are keen to do that and they’ll be focused, and obviously, there are Gallagher Shield points on the line as well.
“Wallsend will be organised, they always are. They haven’t won a game since round one, which is probably more annoying for us than anything. They’ll be up for it. It will be highly competitive and we’re ready for a tough game.
“They haven’t been getting towelled up in many games. A lot of their games they’ve been in it for a large chunk of the game and lost it at the end.
“We’ve strung together a few good results and we’re three unbeaten in the league. We want to build a bit of momentum. We’re a third of the way into the season now, so the table is getting more important as we go.”
While the main objective for Wallsend is to break their losing streak, the occasion itself at The Gardens on Sunday will be much bigger than football.
There will be a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the municipality of Wallsend, and it is also the second round of the Gallagher Shield that is played between these two clubs each year.
The Shield is in honour and memory of Gallagher’s late younger brother Peter Gallagher, who passed away from brain cancer in 2012. Peter played for both Wallsend and South Cardiff. All proceeds from the club’s raffle on the day will go to the Mark Hughes Foundation.
Singleton Strikers FC v West Wallsend SFC
Howe Park, Saturday 2:30pm
Singleton Strikers FC and West Wallsend SFC will go head-to-head for an important three points this Saturday at Howe Park.
These two teams were finalists last year after finishing in the top three, but this year they have just four wins between them across a combined 13 games as Singleton occupies sixth place on the table and West Wallsend sit a point below them in seventh.
Singleton let two points slip last Saturday night in their first home game at Howe Park this season as they failed to convert a 2-0 lead over a 10-man Toronto Awaba side into a victory.
The Strikers coach Doug West was disappointed with the way they handled the second half despite the amount of experience in the playing group. West wanted to see a response this Saturday.
“I want to see goals. We created a lot more chances than Toronto and we should have put the game away before half-time, and even in the second half we had chances, but we didn’t have enough intent and execution in the front third,” West said.
“It was disappointing not to win in front of a home crowd in our first home game of the season. I hope that the players can recognise that and reward the crowd that turns up this weekend against Westy.
“Westy will play their standard direct game. They’ll play fast and a lot of balls in behind, so we’ll have a game plan that will match their intent.”
The Bluebells enter Saturday’s clash at Howe Park determined to end a three-game winless league run that includes two losses. They also went down 2-1 on Wednesday night at Johnston Park when they hosted the NPL Men’s NNSW defending champions Lambton Jaffas in preliminary round four of the Australia Cup.
Westy has only won twice this season, but one of those was against Singleton when they beat them 2-0 in a rescheduled round one match last month. They are confident that they can get the job done again this Saturday and begin their climb up the table.
Thornton Redbacks FC v Toronto Awaba FC
Metford Recreation Reserve, Saturday 2:30pm
Second spot is on the line when Thornton Redbacks FC hosts Toronto Awaba FC in a must-see clash at Metford Recreation Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
The Redbacks and the Stags are third and fourth on the table, respectively, after three wins, three draws and just one loss each so far this season.
The two sides are locked on 12 points alongside second-placed side Kahibah, but an opportunity has presented itself as Kahibah has the bye in round 10.
Nothing could split Thornton and Toronto Awaba when they met earlier in the season at Lyall Peacock Field and finished locked at 3-3. It was scoreless at the break before the Redbacks were forced to come from behind three times in the second stanza to earn a point.
Thornton co-coach Gerard Carey is expecting another tough encounter against last year’s premiers at a makeshift home ground with Thornton Park still out of action.
“Toronto this weekend will be a big test. I think they’ll be ready for us,” Carey said.
“When we played them out there, they were expecting to knock us over easy and got the shock of their life.
“They’ll come in with a plan to break down our defensive structure and we’ll have to be on our game.”
Carey said that while Thornton’s game plan this season has been primarily based around their defence, the side’s attack had started to evolve after it became a higher focus for the group which has made them look dangerous.
Toronto Awaba is winless in their past three league games and that extended to four matches in total when they suffered a shock loss against Zone League One side Hamilton Azzurri in preliminary round three of the Australia Cup last night.
The Stags led 4-0 at half-time at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility but fell apart and lost the match 5-4.
Their focus has now turned to Saturday’s game at Metford Recreation Reserve where they will be looking to get their campaign back on track.
Cessnock City Hornets FC v Belmont Swansea United FC
Turner Park, Saturday 4pm
Undefeated league leaders Belmont Swansea United FC will travel to Turner Park to face Cessnock City Hornets on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday’s match is another significant challenge for the Hornets to rise to when they meet a well-rested BelSwans side who have not played since Good Friday after last weekend’s bye and a washout the weekend prior.
Cessnock is eighth on the table with three points after a win and five losses across the six league games, but they are a team on the rise that has continued to improve each week.
When BelSwans and Cessnock met back in round one at Blacksmiths Oval, the hosts won by seven goals. The score was locked at 2-2 at half-time but the Hornets lost their way in the second stanza and went down 10-3.
Fast forward to round 10 and Cessnock is the only team to have scored multiple goals against the league leaders which has BelSwans’ coach Mick Stafford on high alert.
“It’s a tough place to go Turner Park, but we’re excited to get back on the park following a few weeks off,” Stafford said.
“I expect a tough game. That first half we played against them in the first round was probably the toughest half we’ve had all year. They’ve scored three goals against us and no one else has done that.
“I’m going there with a plan to shut them down and to try to win the match.
“We don’t have a full team, and we’ll be rotating the squad over the heavy schedule the next few weeks. We’ll look different every game we play.
“We want to stay where we are. We’ve set a good foundation over the seven games we’ve played and the group is excited and keen to keep turning up consistently, putting in good performances and scoring goals.
“It’s a tremendous start and it’s a testament to our players’ commitment in the pre-season. The boys have only been together these seven games, so the cohesion is slowly building and we want to keep getting better as a group. We’re really enjoying our football together.”
Stafford’s men are at the top of the table with a maximum 21 points from their first seven games of the campaign. They are nine points clear of Kahibah, Thornton and Toronto Awaba, who are all on 12 points.
Another BelSwans win this weekend would further cement their top spot and see them drift further away from the pack.
Kahibah FC have the bye.
