After a week’s break during the school holidays, Broken Hill Soccer Association returns to play the back half of their fixture list before taking a break for the South Australian Junior Country Championships and then returning for some finals action.
WOMEN’S LEAGUE PREVIEW
Round nine closed out with Alma Goats unseating West Panthers at the summit of the women’s competition with a 6-3 victory, whilst St Joes ensured they remained in the hunt for a top two finish by disposing of a struggling Celtic side 15-0.
This weekend, Alma will look to extend their lead at the top of the standings when they take on Dino Callegher’s St Joes side on the bottom pitch at O’Neill Memorial Park. West will look to arrest an alarming form slump when they take on Celtic on the top pitch.
“It’ll be a different game. It is the first time we will play on the bottom pitch this season,” St Joes coach Dino Callegher told the Truth.
“It’ll be good to see how the girls adapt. There will be more space out wide, switching the ball will open things up and the long ball seems to work more often down there. It’ll be interesting to see how both teams alter the way they play.”
As well as the change in location, the anomaly of playing during the school holidays will likely have an affect on both player numbers and the eventual outcome.
“We don’t usually play during school holidays, but because we have Country Championships, we have had to squeeze in this extra round,” Coach Callegher tells us.
The action in the Women’s competition is set to kick off at the earlier time of 12pm on Sunday when St Joes taking on Alma, with Celtic versus West on the top pitch from 4.20pm.
MEN’S A-GRADE PREVIEW
A-Grade returns after a one-week break for school holidays. In the previous round’s fixture, George Bugeja’s West Panthers picked up their first win of the season over Alma, while St Joes romped to an 8-0 victory over Celtic.
Round 10 will pit the resurgent West against Celtic, while St Joes and Alma face off in a top of the table clash in the later kick off.
With the table tentatively poised, every result in A-Grade is likely to influence the 2023 premiership ambitions of the four clubs.
School holidays are likely to affect the A-Grade line ups. Alma coach Will Hebbard says, “I have got a couple of teachers in the team and they’re not quite back from their holidays yet.”
“However, we are lucky we are quite versatile.”
The Goats are the only side to beat St Joes twice this season and Coach Hebbard believes that holds them in good stead.
“We are itching to get back into the winner’s circle and we know we can do it [defeat St Joes]. We have a young side that is developing, and they always learn win or lose, there’s only good times ahead.”
West tackle Celtic from 2 pm at O’Neill Memorial Park, followed by the St Joes and Alma clash from 4 pm.
