THE Swan Hill men’s side will go into this weekend’s final home-and-away game against La Trobe Uni Red before starting their Super Cup campaign as the team to beat.
The Swans are coming off a dominant 13-1 win against Deniliquin Wanderers, with Swan Hill men’s coach Tony Di Palma confirming that some of his goal scorers returned from injury last week which gave them a boost.
“We’ve had some players that have been coming back to the line-up after having some injuries,” Di Palma told The Guardian.
“Obviously the players that were coming back into the line-up were goal scorers so that made the difference to the team.”
It couldn’t have been better timing for veteran player Ben Muir-Howie to make a return to the line-up, considering the Swans are playing the second placed team on the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League (BASL) ladder.
Di Palma had lots of praise for Swan Hill’s most recent addition to the squad Joseph Costa, who scored a hat-trick last week.
“Joseph has made a massive impact to the team, he is currently playing around the left midfield or left forward positions with our squad,” Di Palma stated.
“He is pretty versatile, he can defend when he wants to and he can be an attacking forward when we need him.
“He could really give a boost to the striking power when the finals come up in the next week or two.”
Even with Ben Muir-Howie returning from injury, Di Palma confirmed that he will still bring three youth players into his squad.
“There will be Bailey Johnson, Jacob Thompson, and Cal Croskery coming with the squad,” Di Palma said.
“Cal was having a slight problem with his hamstring on Tuesday night, so we will keep an eye out for him, but otherwise yes there will be three youth boys coming up with the seniors.”
The Swans will be expecting a hard contest this week, especially after La Trobe Uni Red haven’t lost in five games but just recently drew to the Border Raiders.
Meanwhile, the women’s team will take on the Epsom Stingers in their final match of the season, after coming off a difficult one-nil loss to sister team Epsom Scorpions last weekend.
Swan Hill women’s coach Shane Fleming was quick to remind that they were facing a tough Scorpions side who are pushing for finals, and that his Swans gave Epsom a tough challenge.
“That was probably a game where we should’ve got a result and we deserved a result, but unfortunately, you don’t always get what you deserve,” Fleming said.
“They (Epsom Scorpions) are a very good side and they are playing finals for a reason.
“I cannot fault our girls performance, they were absolutely brilliant, it was probably one of the best games we’ve played this year, despite not getting the win.”
Although the women’s teams season will end on Sunday, they are still determined to claim their fifth win of the season, with Fleming needing his team to repeat last Sunday’s effort in order to finish their season on a high.
“We need to make sure we play in the same way we did last week,” Fleming said.
“We’re confident we can get the result we want if we play at our best, but we won’t be over confident because we are still developing as a team.
“From where we started the season to where we are now we’ve come a long way, the development in the team has been amazing to watch, but now we need to make sure we finish on a high.”
The Swan Hill Youth boys are off to Castlemaine for their last match of the season against Castlemaine Goldfields FC on Sunday. They would be hoping to get a win, after having a season to forget, losing all of their games so far.
The under-16 boys side have their last match of the season at Ken Harrison Reserve, taking on Epsom Scorpions, after having their first win of the season last week against Spring Gully Red.
Finally, the under-16 girls side are on the road and will take on Spring Gully Warriors for their last home-and-away game before getting ready to play finals.
It’s will be the first time in the club’s history that a junior female team has made the BASL Super Cup series, with the team expected to play Castlemaine in the semi finals.
