Finals Week 2

It’s semi finals weekend in the Illawarra Mercury Premier League Finals series, which means by Sunday evening we’ll know one of the teams at both First Grade and Youth Grade who will be running out at the WIN Stadium on 25 September for Grand Finals day.

Bulli FC and Wollongong Olympic both have two teams playing this weekend, with action in both First and Youth Grades. This week it’s Olympic who have both matches at the same venue: Bellambi’s Elizabeth Park, while the Bulli sides will play across the weekend’s two venues, so that means a trip to Kemblawarra Fury’s home ground for the Bulli Youth Grade team.

First Grade

Major Semi Final

Kemblawarra Fury FC v Albion Park White Eagles @ Albert Butler Memorial Park – kick-off 2.30pm

If the two matches between these two sides in the regular IPL season are anything to go by, we are in for a thriller this Sunday at Albert Butler Park.

The Fury took the away leg 4-3 at Terry Reserve, with Matthew McNab scoring a hat-trick that day. But the White Eagles ran the Fury ragged in their 5-1 win at Albert Butler Memorial Park, when Riku Iwauchi scored an extraordinary first half hat-trick. So while the Fury have home advantage for this one, they don’t want memories to come back and haunt them!

Confidence must be brimming in the White Eagles camp after twice coming from behind to beat Bulli last weekend, and in Shohei Okuno, they know they not only have a key goal scorer (two more to his name last weekend), but a man who can change a game single-handedly with his skills on the ball, his vision and his work-rate.

Jeff Allport’s Japanese trio have been key to the White Eagles’ success this year, but the Fury would do well to watch former team-mates Mitch Del Turco (who has scored against the Fury in both matches so far this term) and Vaughan Patterson, who has had a great season just in front of the back four.

Luke Maguire will be hoping top scorer Robbie Shields is back to full fitness, after returning to the bench in the last game of the regular season. The extra week off for his side will have helped that process.

Fabian Iacovelli has enjoyed himself against the White Eagles this season, too, scoring in both fixtures so far.

The key to this match could be in how Alvin Ceccoli manages to marshal his defensive line, though. If both Rhodes brothers play alongside the Fury captain, that makes for a tough backline to get past, and I fancy the Fury might take the wind out of the White Eagles’ wings. But this match could go either way.     

Minor Semi Final

Bulli FC v Wollongong Olympic @ Elizabeth Park, Bellambi – kick-off 2.30pm

If past results are anything to go by, Bulli will go into this Semi Final full of confidence. They have not lost a league game to Wollongong Olympic since Olympic joined the Premier League in 2010. Rob Birkin’s side have slowly been closing the gap, though, and held Bulli to a 1-1 draw when the sides met in June.

Olympic showed their defensive strengths again in holding off a late surge from Picton last weekend to earn their place in the semi-finals. The Bulli front line arguably presents a tougher test for Olympic’s defence, though, and their job may be made all the more difficult if Harvey Rodriguez is absent after being stretchered off last weekend.

At the other end of the field Yusuke Ueda showed again last week why he has been Olympic’s top marksman in 2016, so Bulli will do well to keep an eye on him.

Bulli’s defeat to Albion Park last week ended a ten match unbeaten run. Golden Boot winner Ben McDonald and Julian Minutillo scored Bulli’s goals last week, but they are no strangers to the Olympic defence as Minutillo scored in both the regular season matches between these two this year and McDonald nabbed a brace in Bulli’s 4-1 win back in Round 3. Dylan Lewis is the other main goal threat with his runs down the right and his sharpness in front of goal.

I’m going with Bulli to bounce back from last week and keep their Grand Final hopes alive for 2016.

 

Youth Grade

Major Semi Final

Bulli FC v Wollongong United @ Albert Butler Memorial Park - kick-off 12.15pm

Wollongong United surely go into the Semi Final as favourites having finished the regular season nine points clear of the field and unbeaten since Round 10. If any team is going to run United close, though, it is Bulli, who held the Champions to a 1-1 draw at Balls Paddock and only went down 4-3 when the sides met at Macedonia Park this season.

United hit the net a staggering 100 times in their 22 regular season rounds, with Bradley Acev scoring 35 of those. Bulli know all about Acev, though, as he scored a hat-trick in one of those games against the boys in blue and got United’s only goal in that 1-1 draw. Bulli will also be aware of the threat from United’s other scorer in that 4-3 win: Tim Wylie will have come on in leaps and bounds since that match as he was getting regular First Grade experience towards the end of the regular season.

Bulli surprised a few onlookers with the emphatic nature of their 5-2 win in the Qualifying Final last weekend. Nikolas Micevski underlined his threat at this level, with a brace in that game; he is Bulli’s top scorer this season and he scored against United in the 1-1 draw.

Jared Fish is the other name to look out for as Bulli press forward. He got his name on the scoresheet again last week and found a way through the United defence twice in the 4-3 defeat back in May.

On paper this could be a thriller that goes the distance, but I’d have to go for United to sneak through at the end. They may well meet again come Grand Finals day, though.

Minor Semi Final

Woonona FC v Wollongong Olympic @ Elizabeth Park, Bellambi kick-off 12.15pm

This is the most intriguing tie of the IPL Finals weekend and could go either way.

Both sides made home advantage count during the regular season, so we’ll see on Sunday who comes out on top at neutral Elizabeth Park.

The momentum might be with the Sharks, who stunned Kemblawarra Fury 4-1 last weekend in the Elimination Final, while Olympic conceded five goals in a match for the first time since Round 1.

Caleb Russell was the Sharks’ key player last Sunday, knocking in a hat-trick in his first appearance in three months. Kyle Del and Joel Beattie remain Woonona’s top scorers this season, though Olympic will know to look out also for Liam Storkey since he scored in both regular season ties between these two.

For Olympic, Jamie Wakeling has been the stand-out striker. His 30^th goal of the campaign was not enough to prevent defeat last week, but he will always be a threat in front of goal.

Olympic were on a five match winning streak going into last week’s Qualifying Final. I reckon they have it in them to bounce back and take this tie, but the Sharks will not give in easily.

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo Courtesy of Pedro Garcia (library image)