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Soccer cup round one preview

Posted on June 18, 2009, 8:08pm

The WBSA premiership race takes a back seat for three weeks as we move into the first round of the Shadows/Belgiornos Cup.

Week one sees Naracoorte v Gambier City Sharks, Millicent v Inter, Portland v Centrals and Blue Lake v Apollo.

MILLICENT v INTER

In the match of the round premiership leader Inter travels to Millicent to take on the much improved Millicent side. Both teams are coming off of strong performances from last week, Millicent drawing 1 – 1 with Centrals and Inter having a goal fest against Portland winning 18 – 0. Inter will no doubt go in as favourites, but are without regular goalkeeper Von Duve due to injury. His place will be taken by ex Millicent keeper Peter Vorwerk. Inter look strong all over the park and with Osman, Morony, Bonner and Galloway all in fine form the boys from Millicent will have to be on their toes to keep pace. In saying that Inter would not want to take this match easy as Millicent have taken points off of Apollo and Centrals this year and were considered very unlucky not to have taken at least one and maybe all three points off of Inter . They have turned into a very good unit this year and are playing with great determination. Gregetic and Saint are two of the keys to this game and along with Lines and co will make Inter earn every kick. This will be a fast paced and exciting game to watch with Inter probably being a bit too strong in the end and should record a win 3 – 1.

BLUE LAKE v APOLLO

The Blue Lake Apollo match should also be interesting with both these teams also recording strong wins last week against Naracoorte and the Sharks respectively. Blue Lake were without 5 regulars last week but should have all back except Armandi which leaves the come back kid Anthony Davison in goals. Apollo looked first class in patches last week but were prone to losing concentration and losing sight of the game plan. When on song they are the equal to any side. With a strong backline led by Odgers and Johnston they will put immense pressure on Thomson and Guess in the Blues forward line. The battle of the midfield will be a great contest with the likes of Ferguson, McRostie and Thomson for the Blues up against Hancock, Stenner and Prentice for Apollo. I think that the game will be won or lost by whoever takes their chances in front of goals and with Hodge in good form Strachan or Reiner will need to mark him very closely. The last time these two met Apollo won comfortably but Blue Lake have improved since then and will feel they are a strong chance. I am tipping a 2 – 2 draw.

PORTLAND v CENTRALS

Centrals travel to Portland as huge favourites after Portland were thumped last week. Centrals will be desperate to atone for their draw with Millicent last game, and I am sure that Muller will not allow complacency to creep in. Steve Arthur in goal for Portland suffered an injury last week and hopes to be fit this week and their defensive line up should be much stronger and will need to be if they are going to contain the strong Centrals outfit. Hart has apparently played his last game for Centrals as he pursues a career in the Geelong league. Although he leaves a huge gap in the side Centrals should have way too many guns for Portland and I suspect a 7 – 0 scoreline.

NARACOORTE v SHARKS

In the final game of the round Naracoorte host the Sharks. Naracoorte showed a great deal of improvement until last week when they were beaten comfortably by Blue Lake at home. Sharks also have had some good results but would have been disappointed with the result from last week against Apollo. The Sharks have some talented players but need to put it all together. Naracoorte will be sure to be competitive at home and will consider this a game that they can win. The Sharks playmaker De Rocca was limping towards the end of the game last week and he will be a key player if they are going to win. My prediction is the Sharks 3 – 1.

LEW FERGUSON

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