THE Swan Hill men’s soccer team will be determined to lock away a Super Cup finals berth when they play Strathfieldsaye Colts United on Saturday evening.
With the third placed Swans sitting eight points clear of fifth placed Border Raiders FC with just five rounds remaining, a win would see Swan Hill move the better part of four games clear of their rivals.
With a game against winless Deniliquin Wanderers to come in the final round, victory tomorrow would all but confirm a top four finish for Swan Hill.
The three points will be equally important for both the Swans and Colts to stay in the hunt for premiership honours also, with Spring Gully United now sitting seven points clear of Swan Hill on top of the table.
Tomorrow’s match is part of a sweep of rescheduled games following last weekend’s deluge, which saw the majority of Bendigo Amateur Soccer League fixtures cancelled due to wet pitches and unplayable conditions.
It will be Swan Hill’s first match in four weeks, with last weekend’s wash out, combined with Deniliquin’s round 10 forfeit and the mid-season bye meaning the Swans will go into the game potentially underdone, according to men’s coach Tony Di Palma.
“It’s a little bit of a concern for us having not played for so long, but by the same token the boys have been training hard and keeping their touch up, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue,” Di Palma told The Guardian this week.
“It’s not something we haven’t dealt with in the past anyway, last year for example we had a similar run of weeks where we didn’t play with forfeits and byes.
“It didn’t affect us last year and I don’t anticipate it affecting us this weekend either.
“Our biggest focus really is on continuing to gel together and making sure that we hit these last five rounds with a full head of steam.
“The boys are all keen, we know what a win this weekend means for our season and we know that they (Strathfieldsaye) will be a much tougher opponent than last time we played them.”
It will be the fourth meeting between the two clubs tomorrow, with Swan Hill holding a 2-1 head-to-head record against the Colts this season.
Their first encounter saw the Swans defeat Strathfieldsaye 3-1 in the quarter finals of the BASL League Cup competition, before the Colts reversed the result just two weeks later in the opening round of the League 2 competition.
The last meeting between the clubs was back in June when Swan Hill demolished Strathfieldsaye 4-0 at the Ken Harrison Reserve.
Conner Brown was the hero that afternoon after the Swans striker scored a hat-trick, with Di Palma stating Brown would play a key role once again tomorrow.
“He is such a barometer for us and at his best can be extremely hard to stop,” Di Palma said.
“But Conner really is the beneficiary of all the hard work that gets done further up the field by our back four and midfield.
“A lot of our boys were playing some really good football before the break and have gelled together better than I could have anticipated to be honest.”
Brown, Cooper Fox, Jai Wright and Anyueer Majur are all expected to play key roles, with Joseph Costa and Karl Fedele confirmed outs for the Swans, along with Noah Drummond, who is rated a 50-50 proposition at best to play.
The men’s team will be the only Swan Hill side to hit the road this weekend, with the women’s, under 16 boys and under 14 boys teams all featuring at the Ken Harrison Reserve.
Swan Hill’s women’s team will play host to premiership contenders Castlemaine Goldfields Green on Sunday, with the Swans also looking to further strengthen their Super Cup finals hopes with a victory following their 2-0 win over Spring Gully United last weekend.
It will be the second meeting between the two teams this year, with Castlemaine defeating the Swans 6-0 earlier this season.
Despite that loss, Swan Hill women’s assistant coach Emma Pitts is expecting a highly competitive match, with the Swans taking big strides forward since that day.
“We have improved markedly from that game, as we have since the start of the season and last year as well,” Pitts said.
“We were missing a few key players that afternoon which didn’t help, but if we can play as we did last weekend against Spring Gully then I’m confident we can cause an upset.
“They are a good side, there’s no doubt about that, but we are a much better side now than we were too, especially at home.”
“The key for us is going to be making sure we are ready to go right from the first whistle.
“We were slow out of the blocks and we let them get the jump on us earlier in the year, so that will be a big focus for Sunday.”
Also in action will be Swan Hill’s under 16 boys team, who will host Strathfieldsaye Colts United on Saturday following the Swans’ under 14 boys match against Castlemaine Goldfields Green at 11am.
Both games will be played at the Ken Harrison Reserve.
