ALL four of the Swan Hill Soccer League’s Bendigo Amateur Soccer League teams will be in action for the first time this season, with the clubs under-14 and under-16 boys teams taking to the pitch for their opening round matches on Saturday.
It will be the first time Swan Hill have entered an under-14 boys team, with the club aiming to have a full pathway from juniors through to senior men at BASL level over the coming seasons.
The under-14 boys team will take on Epsom Scorpions away in Bendigo for their first match, with the under-16 boys also hitting the road to play Golden City SC tomorrow afternoon.
Also in action on Saturday will be Swan Hill’s men’s team, who will travel to take on Strathfieldsaye Colts United in the opening home-and-away match of their BASL League 2 season.
It will be the second time in two weeks that the two clubs have met, with Swan Hill recording a 3-1 win over Colts in the League Cup quarter-final a fortnight ago, with the Swans progressing through to the League Cup semi-final against League 1 team FC Eaglehawk as a result.
Striker Conner Brown proved to be the standout two weeks ago for Swan Hill, with last year’s leading goal scorer netting the opening two goals in the win to continue his strong form over the past three seasons.
Brown will once again be a key player for Swan Hill, along with captain and midfielder Cooper Fox and defender Anyueer Majur, who will be expected to lead the Swans back four this season alongside experienced goal keeper Riley McCosh.
While Swan Hill’s mens and boys teams will travel tomorrow, the Swans sole female team will play at home against Kyneton District Maroon on Sunday morning.
Swan Hill will have some idea of what to expect from the Rangers, having played their sister team Kyneton District Blue in round 1, with the Swans suffering a 5-0 loss on the road on that occasion.
A much-improved performance is expected this time around, however, according to Swan Hill assistant coach Emma Pitts, with the Swans having defeated Epsom FC 2-0 at home at their last outing.
“We’ll be much better prepared this time around, firstly we know what to expect from Kyneton and secondly, I think we’ve worked out our own game and where some of our new players better fit into our team since then,” Pitts told The Guardian this week.
“They will be a different team to the one we last played, but we have also noticed over the opening two rounds that there’s a lot of crossover of players between both of their teams, which is interesting.
“I would suspect they will structure up somewhat similar in their defensive line, which we feel if we can win enough of the ball through the midfield, we can possibly expose with some speed up front.
“The key for us will really be around winning the ball and controlling the game through the midfield and applying pressure to their key ball carriers when they have possession.
“They (Kyneton) have some really classy players who can hurt us forward, but in saying that, we do too.
“We just need to give our forwards enough chances to hit the scoreboard and hurt them going back the other way.”
Swan Hill’s women’s team will host Kyneton District Maroon from 11am on Sunday morning at the Ken Harrison Reserve.
