Round 17 – National Premier League NSW Women Preview
Five matches will take place in Round 17 this weekend of the NPL NSW Women’s competition with one match already completed.
Sutherland Shire v Bankstown City
Sutherland Shire and Bankstown City clash on Sunday at Harrie Denning Centre.
It’s been a tough season for both teams in 2018 with Sutherland bottom and Bankstown in 10th place.
Sutherland will be buoyed with their draw last week against the Northern Tigers, securing only their second point of the season.
Bankstown went down again last week, making it four straight defeats as their travels continue during the reconstruction of Jensen Park.
Bankstown cruised to a 2-0 victory when the sides first met.
Emerging Jets v Northern Tigers
At Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility, the Emerging jets host the Northern Tigers.
Five losses on the bounce for the Jets has them in a poor run of form at the moment and will look for points to start their move up the ladder.
Two draws in a row but no goals scored will have the Tigers worried.
They haven’t won since their brave victory against the Koalas in early May.
They defeated the Jets 3-0 in their earlier clash this year.
Sydney University v Illawarra Stingrays
Sydney University and Illawarra Stingrays clash in one of the matches of the round at Sydney University Football Ground.
Illawarra took top spot from the ‘Students’ after the weekend’s results and won’t be too keen to give it up, the same way Uni want to get it back.
Alex Epakis’s side will be disappointed in not taking their chances last week as it cost them victory.
They could be without star player Kendall Fletcher who hobbled off with what looked a serious injury last week.
Three massive wins in a row have the Stingrays travelling well at the right time of the season and sitting in top spot.
To keep a hold of top spot, they must win on Sunday, putting them a step closer to the premiership.
Manly United v Blacktown Spartans
At 6pm on Sunday night at Cromer park, Manly United entertain Blacktown Spartans.
A drop in form has brought Manly’s finals participation into question with only six games remaining.
After travelling fine for most of the season, United has only one twice in their last six games, allowing the Koalas to sit on three points behind them.
Inconsistency has cost the Spartans this year, only picking up consecutive wins once this season.
Mathematically they can still make the finals but it’ll take something special…very special.
Macarthur Rams v NWS Koalas
At the same time at Lynwood Park, the North West Sydney Koalas travel to take on the Macarthur Rams.
Macarthur are second and breathing down the neck of the Stingrays, waiting for them to slip up.
Seven games without defeat has the Rams in good form and Norm Boardman will make sure his team keeps pushing toward another premiership.
We said it, the Koalas will come good and they finally have.
Jaime Gomez’s team has come from nowhere to sit only three points outside the top five. Four straight wins and a favourable run in could see the Koalas sneak into the finals with a positive result against the Rams.
Football NSW Institute 1-1 North Shore Mariners
At Valentine Sports Park last week, in a rescheduled match, the Football NSW Institute and North Shore Mariners shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
The Mariners went into he break leading 1-0 thanks to a goal from captain Madeleine Bart.
The Institute pushed for an equaliser and found it in the second period through Melindaj Barbieri.
-By Nikola Pozder
