Round 3 Preview

Three teams in the Illawarra Mercury Premier League have yet to kick a ball in this rain-affected start to the season. So Round 3 looks like seeing the first IPL action for Kemblawarra Fury, Albion Park White Eagles and Picton Rangers. The three sides have not been idle for the opening weeks, though, as they have all been in FFA Cup action, along with Wollongong United and Bulli. And the Football South Coast clubs have been going great guns so far in the cup competition, with all five competing teams through to Round 5.

Ladder leaders after Round 2 are Wollongong Olympic, but they are also the only team to have played two matches. A couple of the Round 1 catch-up games have now been re-scheduled for the coming week, so we’ll also briefly preview those matches here, and by this time next week the ladder should be not too far behind, given the atrocious weather we have had through March and April so far.

Match of the round

Corrimal Rangers v Kemblawarra Fury @ Memorial Park – kick-off 2.30pm, Sunday 9 April

Newly-promoted Corrimal host the IPL minor premiers from last season at Memorial Park on Sunday. The Rangers have been up to every test thrown at them so far this year, reaching the Fraternity Cup final and last week holding a strong Olympic side to a draw at PCYC. So there will be keen interest in how they deal with a Fury side which on paper looks potentially stronger than the team that topped the ladder in 2016.

Rangers coach John Fleming was especially pleased with his side’s performance last week, with several key players out. He’ll still be without Save Treneski for this one, and keeper Alex Baird is away for another few weeks, so he won’t be at full strength against the Fury and that could be key this time, I think.

Luke Maguire’s side may not have played any IPL football, having had two rounds washed out, but they put in a creditable performance in the FFA Cup last week to come through away at a useful Gosford City.

Whoever Maguire chooses for his front line (and he has quite a few options after a few handy-looking summer signings), this will be a major test of Corrimal centre backs Robbie Brown and Paul Guido. Anthony Proia and Shane Murray scored two apiece in that FFA Cup win at Gosford, but throw in Matt McNab, Liam Unicomb and Fabian Iacovelli, and the Fury goals could come from any of these.

I think this will be tight, but I’m going for an away win here, by a single goal.

Friday 7 April

Cringila Lions v Woonona FC @ Crehan Park, kick-off 8.00pm

These two sides conceded 12 goals between them in their opening IPL fixture, so against the leading teams this season they may well be struggling to get a result. That puts added pressure on fixtures like this, which are golden opportunities for both sides to get points on the board.

Neither team will have been pleased with their opening outing this season, the Lions going down 5-1 at home to Olympic, and Woonona crumbling to a 7-0 defeat at home to Bulli.

I don’t expect any scoreline like that this weekend, but this could be an edgy match as the two coaches look to patch up leaky defences, but also nick a win against fellow strugglers.

The omens are not great for the Lions, who failed to score in two defeats to the Sharks last season. In fact Cringila haven’t won this exact fixture since 2013, so Wally Savour will be looking to end that run here, and may well put his best hopes in centre forward Milan Atlagic, who looked handy against Olympic and might have caused more damage in Round 1 if it hadn’t been for the presence of Jake Duczynski against him.

Luke McCosker and Daniel Atkins might provide the Sharks’ best chance of hitting the net.

An early goal either way and this game could open up into an entertaining battle, but it could also get bogged down in deadlock. A draw looks likely and a few goals would certainly boost both teams’ confidence.

Saturday 8 April

Picton Rangers v Wollongong United @ Hume Oval kick-off 2.30pm

Daisuke Yuzawa has been joined at United this season by two new compatriots – Taka Noji and Kai Miyakawa – and there were signs last week that this could be another Japanese trio to wow the IPL crowds in 2017. United came through a difficult opening fixture at Port Kembla, playing some stylish football in their 2-1 win.

This is another tough trip for Oliver Vrtkovski’s side as they try to continue their winning ways. Picton are certainly no pushover and in fact came from behind to win the equivalent fixture in 2016 with an injury time winner from Daniel Goodhew. Dayne Morley also got on the scoresheet that day, and both these two are back in the Picton squad for this campaign as coach Brett Morley kicks off 2017 with largely the same squad that saw his side win the District League in 2015. It served him well last season as the Rangers made the end of season Finals, but it is yet to be tested in the IPL this season, due to the rain.

United have depth in the squad this season, giving Vrtkovski options as he juggles FFA Cup midweek games and looks to adapt his style for each opponent. Last season’s top scorer and demon at the set-piece Ben Brooks was on the bench for United’s win at Port Kembla as Brendan Reilly and Milan Zoric led the backline. Mikal Awad has slotted in well in midfield, and Angelo Hajitoffi looked dangerous pushing forward.

Both these teams came through tough FFA Cup matches on Wednesday. Squad depth and fitness might tell on the back of that.

There’s a lot for Picton to deal with, and I am going for an away win, but Brett Morley’s side confounded the sceptics last year over and over again, so I’m not banking on anything here.

Wollongong Olympic v Port Kembla FC @ PCYC, North Wollongong – kick-off 2.30pm

The early ladder leaders take on a side that is also hopeful of Finals football at the end of the season, making this the pick of Saturday’s fixtures.

Olympic impressed with their attacking flair on their season bow at Cringila Lions in Round 1, but were held by a much tougher opponent last weekend when Corrimal Rangers came to the PCYC and went away with a 1-1 result.

Port went down to Wollongong United in last weekend’s opener for them but they also won’t be looking back on 2016 for inspiration as they failed to score in the two ties between these two. The equivalent fixture produced a goalless draw last year, but Olympic have really improved their front line in 2017 and I expect there to be goals this weekend.

Yusuke Ueda is still looking keen to remain Olympic’s top scorer, but he will have competition this year from Johnny Martinoski, Nuno Pires and Blake Coates (if he is back from injury).

For Port, Blake McGinn looked good last week at the back and when pushed forward by coach Noel Spencer against United. Sandy Lowcock is maturing into a fine striker, and of course Ben Zucco can always produce magic out of nothing.

This game should be tight and I am going to call it a draw.

Bulli FC v Tarrawanna Blueys @ Balls Paddock – kick-off 2.30pm

This is Bulli’s second local derby in a week, and I’m sure they would love a repeat of the 7-0 goalrush they managed at Woonona last week. That is surely unlikely, but Bulli will look back on last season – when they did the double over the Blueys and scored nine goals in the process – and maybe fancy their chances again.

Bulli’s forward trio of Ben McDonald, Dylan Lewis and Julian Minutillo did a lot of the damage last season. McDonald and Lewis are still knocking them in, but Guy Knight stepped up last week with a hat-trick suggesting he’d be happy to fill Minutillo’s boots for 2017.

It will be interesting to see how Matt Naylor and Jared Fish do against their old club. Fish may even remember scoring two goals against the Blueys in 2016, and he may well be a threat up front for Tarrawanna. Look out also for Ricky Goodchild who showed he has lost none of his sharpness in front of goal, with a score in last week’s tight 2-2 draw at South Coast.

Bulli came through a gruelling FFA Cup tie on Wednesday winning after 120 minutes football and penalties against NPL2 outfit Macarthur Rams. We’ll see on Saturday whether they have had enough recovery time before returning to IPL action.

I’m expecting a lively affair at Balls Paddock but have to go with the three points for the home side.

Other fixture on Sunday, 9 April

South Coast United v Albion Park White Eagles @ Ian McLellan Park – kick-off 3.00pm

Many might see this as a banker away win as last season’s Grand Final winners visit the side that has had to reshape and regroup after losing ten players at the end of an already difficult 2016 season.

But don’t discount Greg Valic’s side. They not only managed a 1-1 draw in both IPL fixtures between these two last season, but they kicked off 2017 with a very creditable draw at Tarrawanna last week.

United’s scorers in last season’s matches may have left, but Ricky Bertakis stayed on and he scored both their goals in the 2-2 draw at the Blueys. And at the back Valic himself is always a tough player to get past.

There’s so much talent in the White Eagles squad, though. They may not have played an IPL match yet this season, but they have been knocking goals in for fun in the early rounds of the FFA Cup. Shohei Okuno has new Japanese team-mates, and one of those – Yosuke Tashiro – was among the goals in the midweek Cup win at Lane Cove FC.

It’s hard to see anything but an away win here, but then Valic’s side were last season’s draw specialists…

Catch-ups on Tuesday 11 April

Bulli FC v Kemblawarra Fury @ Balls Paddock – kick-off 8pm

This blockbuster fixture should have kick started the IPL campaign in Round 1, but was washed out. These two sides shared the ladder leadership for most of the 2016 season and have a rivalry that goes back a few years now. Games are always tight between them and both fixtures ended in draws in 2016.

Bulli made a flying start to the 2017 campaign and will be hoping to have followed up with another win at the weekend. The Fury, meanwhile, have been performing well in the FFA Cup but at the time of writing have yet to kick-start their IPL season.

It’s a hard one to predict and I am going to sit on the fence at Balls Paddock and call it a draw again.

South Coast United v Woonona FC @ Ian McLellan Park – kick-off 8pm

This is Woonona’s second chance in four days to pick up points against a team many expect to be struggling in 2017. Get a couple of decent results, and the mood could be lifted at Ocean Park, but lose these two and things would look pretty grim for the Sharks.

United did well in their opening fixture to take a point away from Tarrawanna Oval. If they get anything out of the Round 3 game against the White Eagles, they’ll go into this one brimming with confidence.

So much here will depend on the weekend games, I’m not even going to make a prediction for this one.

 

Report by Simon Duffin