Saturday, March 27, 2010

Blockbuster between Metro and Beachside heralds start of Division One


The Southern Division One competition kicks off this afternoon with a couple of new teams involved and all games kicking off at 2.30pm.


The State under-15s take on Hobart United at Showgrounds 2 and this will show the youngsters’ mettle as United are a formidable side coached by Mark Broadbent.


Southern FC is the other new outfit. They were formed by a merger between Christian United and Kingston Cannons and they come up against Northern Suburbs DOSA at Showgrounds 1.


DOSA appear to be struggling this year and this game will show whether Southern FC are the real thing.


The game of the round has to be the Metro versus Beachside encounter at North Chigwell.


Metro just missed out on promotion last season, while Beachside see themselves as title contenders.


Beachside welcome back Ben Davis and Brett Pullen, but they will be without the injured Bernhard Klasen.


“Generally, the Metro and Beachside games are closely contested, with not much separating the teams,” said Beachside coach, Nathan Robinson.


“I think this game will be no different.


“We will certainly miss the goalscoring ability of Bernhard Klasen, who injured his ankle against the TIS.”


Metro will have Ryan Thurley and Danny Cowen available after they missed Metro’s previous Summer Cup match.


“It’ll be a pretty tough game and Beachside must be the favourites,” said Metro coach, Matthew Rhodes.


“We’re in a rebuilding phase, but we’ll be competitive and we’ll be there.”


The remaining match pits University against Nelson Eastern Suburbs at Olinda Grove.


Nelson will make a few changes to their Summer Cup squad for the league match.


Defender Craig Stockdale is back, while under-19 captain Cody Flynn is included after he missed the entire Summer Cup campaign.


Stockdale had missed two Summer Cup matches.


Teenager Ryan Mills makes his debut, while new signing from Somerset, Matt Fone, also makes his senior debut.


“Young centre-back Will Stalker has retained his position and Ryan Mills’s speed is a good option in this match,” said Nelson coach, Michael Roach.


“He would have played against the TIS had he been available, and we have also got Rhys Endall, another one of our talented under-19s debuting here, probably as a second-half substitute.


“Troy Hoppitt, Antoine Valterio, Ollie Ireland and Max Caufield are back in the reserves for this match, but two of the four will be on the bench, while centre-back Cameron Rush is also out because of work commitments.


“We have lots of depth at the club this season and plenty of people challenging for spots, which is a good position to be in.


“The only concern is how quickly this team will gel now with a few new faces after getting into some decent form by the end of the cup.


“University are back from Premier League, so we’re expecting a strong physical challenge from them, but we also think we’ve got a team that can do some damage to them.”

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

uni 1 nelson 1

hobart united beat state 15's not sure of the score

Pixel 40 said...

Dosa play really well, credit to the boys who step up from reserve
and Southern FC play well but the Dosa team play as we train and where lucky no to win by at least 5-2
Southern FC have some quality Sudanese who are fast and naturals
but our boys did have the better game structure

Anonymous said...

Pixel, saviour the point, every other team in this league are going to thump your team and structure.

Unknown said...

Is this walter pless on football, or michael roach on football?

Anonymous said...

ahh anonomous, i beg to differ. dosa have some great youth in there team this year and will challenge most of the top teams, and can only get better as the team gains more exp. u will be eating your own words soon enough.

Pixel 40 said...

LOL anin or anon in other words what ever?

Anonymous said...

Michael Roach = TANK

Anonymous said...

Nelson were unlucky not to take away full points, although the match was very tight. Ref forgot his whistle and was in danger of losing control of the match at times. Several fouls and a couple of cards should have gone against Uni, and a uni handball in the Nelson box would have changed the game if called (the linesman called it!)Unlucky Nelson

ginger said...

Dosa have at least 6 kids at school that are very talented under the age of 18 and their future is bright , those kids did not play yesterday and they still got a point with basically their reserve team . not sure if they will get thumped Anonymous

Anonymous said...

I'd very much like to point out with taroona fc; that tey are definately improving with each game...

their 19's team were all over the clarence 19's and should've finished at least 3 more simple chances.

the reserves did well but really needed to capitalize on their chances

and premier league did well....
but had no intensity in the start of the 2nd half, leaving them open for 2 quick goals.
but once fired up were ahead on control and possession.

Anonymous said...

FYI
Matt Fone came from Northern Rangers
; )