THE world game will return to Swan Hill this Sunday, with the Swan Hill Soccer League set to take on a club who were recently the talk of Australian soccer.
Oakleigh Cannons, who made a remarkable run to last year’s Australia Cup semi-finals, are sending their Under 20s side to Ken Harrison Reserve.
They’ll take on Swan Hill’s premiership winning men’s team in a pre-season practice match.
The Cannons’ senior men defeated A-League Men powerhouse Sydney FC 2-1 during their Australia Cup run.
Despite the Under 20 side’s youth, it will be a significant challenge for the Swans, according to captain Cooper Fox.
“This is the first practice match that we’ve had for a number of years,” Fox told The Guardian.
“It’s going to be good to just get back into playing because it usually takes a bit of time to get the fitness under the belt, and the start of the season proper is just around the corner for us as well.
“We’re expecting them to turn up with a very fit and very skilful team.
“We’re assuming they’ve played with each other most of their soccer lives, so they’ll know each other’s games like the back of their hand, and being youthful a few of our older boys might find out we should have started pre-season a bit earlier.
“We’ll certainly give a good account of ourselves though – they might be fitter and younger, but this is our home ground and we want to win.”
The Cannons are also bringing up their Under 15 boys development team to play against Swan Hill’s Under 16 youth side in a curtain raiser to the main game, with the action set to get under way from 12.30pm.
Fox was hopeful of a strong season for both the Swan Hill sides.
“Both teams are travelling quite well at this point, there’s been considerable improvement from a senior perspective since the first couple of weeks of training – but its just good to get into the swing of things and have a game to finally look forward to playing in,” he said.
“It’s a similar story with the youth team too – they’re getting good numbers which is a big positive and I know the boys are very keen to show them (Oakleigh) what they can do as well.”
