SWAN Hill’s undefeated men’s team will face a stern test when they travel to Deniliquin to play the Wanderers in round 6 of the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League Division 2 men’s competition on Saturday afternoon.
Swan Hill are yet to taste defeat this season following a hard-fought 4-3 win over Strathfieldsaye Colts last weekend, with the one-goal victory moving them five points clear on top of the ladder and stretching their winning streak to five games.
As such, the Swans will go in as heavy favourites against Deniliquin, but also without Blaze Hamiliton, Ben Muir-Howie and Ethan Drummond from last Saturday’s team.
Swan Hill men’s coach Tony Di Palma said the team would be wary of complacency.
“They (Deniliquin) are a very good team at home and because we haven’t played them this season as yet, we don’t know what to expect,” Di Palma said.
“We’ll have a couple of guys missing due to injury and illness and travelling away always makes it a little bit harder to get a result.
“With that said, if our key players like Cooper (Fox), Connor (Brown) and the English boys (Gareth Johansen, Stephen Whittaker and Jason Stokes) are on song, we tend to play a little bit better and if we play the way we’ve been playing, I’d expect us to bring back some points.”
Swan Hill’s four remaining BASL teams will all feature at Ken Harrison Reserve over the weekend, with the club’s under-16 junior teams both playing Saturday, and the youth boys and women’s teams playing Sunday.
Swan Hill’s under-16 girls team will be hoping to solidify their top four spot by reversing their 4-0 away loss to Castlemaine Goldfields earlier in the season when the two teams meet again from 11am Saturday.
The young Swans have been the competition’s big improvers this season and sit third on the table with three wins and a tie from their six matches, featuring strong starts to the season by midfielders Maddi Muir-Howie and Ella Semeia, defenders Charley Baskin and Charlize Capone, and striker Trinity Shelton.
Following the girls will be the under-16 boys team, who will also be aiming to reverse the result of their last meeting when they host Kyneton Maroon from 1pm.
Swan Hill will go into the game confident of registering their first win of the season. In their earlier encounter, the Rangers secured their only win so far, 3-1.
Also chasing first wins will be the youth boys and women’s teams on Sunday, with the youth boys to face off against Spring Gully United Red for the first time this season.
They will be followed by Swan Hill’s women’s team, who will host Epsom Stingers from 1.30pm, with both clubs looking to get on the board.
The Swans were unlucky to have not broken through for their first points of the season against Epsom Scorpions last Sunday, creating several strong chances in the 1-0 loss.
