This Sunday sees the final round of the Broken Hill Soccer Association regular season fixtures. The final round of matches has St Joes taking on Celtic across the three senior competitions, while West taking on Alma.
In what is set to be a jam-packed Sunday of sports, with the AFL also making the decision to play their games on Sunday to avoid a clash with the Mundi Mundi Bash, all the soccer action takes place from 11.30am. The B-Grade fixtures will kick things off on the top pitch of O’Neill Memorial Park with the clash between St Joes and Celtic.
At 12pm, a potential women’s A-Grade grand final preview takes place, with West taking on Alma. Those two sides have played some of the most entertaining fixtures of the season including a memorable 7-7 draw earlier this season.
In the late kick off in the women’s league, St Joes clash with Celtic in a fixture that before last week’s performance by the green and white team, would have been put down as a certain win for St Joes.
All that has changed after a resurgent Celtic women’s team took Alma to the limit last week and were ultimately unlucky not to take anything from the fixture. Regardless of the result, things are on the up for Celtic United, and if they can keep this squad together, they will be right around the mark in the 2023/24 season.
The final round of the men’s A-Grade begins at 2pm on the bottom pitch when St Joes face Celtic.
After what can only be described as a terrible season last season, Celtic have come back with a vengeance in the 2022/23 season and are a genuine threat to win the premiership. If they can secure victory against a St Joes side that looks destined to finish top and secure automatic qualification to the A-Grade Grand Final, it will hold them in good stead come the semi-finals.
St Joes, however, are not looking too far into the future, and have their sights set on securing the three points this weekend.
“We definitely need to win this weekend, to keep the momentum rolling into the finals and shore up that top spot. We don’t want to be giving any other team a look in. We want that automatic Grand Final spot,” said Pat Nash of St Joes.
In the other A-Grade clash, West will look to sign off what has been a miserable season when they take on the Mighty Goats of Alma. Alma have been good this season without being spectacular and will, much like Celtic, look to secure a victory that will give them positive momentum heading into the final’s series.
After this weekend, the league goes on a mini break before the finals series for the South Australian Junior Soccer Association (SAJSA) Country Championships which are being held right here, in Broken Hill. League soccer will return on September 9 with the semi-finals, with Grand Final weekend taking place a week later on September 16.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
B-Grade: St Joes vs Celtic 11.30am (Top Pitch)
Women’s A-Grade: Alma vs West 12 pm (Bottom Pitch)
Men’s A-Grade: St Joes vs Celtic 2 pm (Bottom Pitch)
B-Grade: Alma vs West 2.15 pm (Top Pitch)
Men’s A-Grade: Alma vs West 4 pm (Bottom Pitch)
Women’s A-Grade: St Joes vs Celtic 4.20pm (Top Pitch)
