It is the penultimate round in the #NPLWNSW competition with so much on the line and finals places still up for grabs.
Who will reign supreme with six teams fighting for three spots.
Bankstown City v Manly United
One of these two teams’ finals hopes will end at Jensen Park on Sunday afternoon as Bankstown City host Manly United.
Bankstown have put themselves in a position where three wins from their last three games should secure a finals place, starting with their Thursday night catch up against Sydney Olympic. It’s been an incredible run home with only one defeat in their last nine games.
Their togetherness and team spirit shone last weekend when they took the points away from home at Lambert Park in a game that was tough to pick the player of the match.
Matt Costantini is no doubt proud of his girls and the season they have had, but to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the finals on the last day of the season, they must take points here and on Thursday.
If Costantini is proud of his, then Tom Hopley is certainly delighted with his girls. They looked down and out against the Premiers, their finals hopes extinguished, but they rose, turned the half time deficit around and their dreams of finals football were alive again.
Yuka Honda’s late goal has given the Northern Beaches side a chance, but any dropped points on Sunday and that will be the end of their season.
Emily Minett and their Japanese import will be key to anything Manly do in the front third while Ruby Jackson and Corrine Winkler are intrusted with keeping their goal untouched.
Manly won the first fixture between these two by an emphatic 5-1 score line, despite Bankstown leading 1-0 at half time.
Emerging Jets v APIA Leichhardt
APIA Leichhardt will travel north on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Emerging Jets.
What a performance from the Jets to record their first win of the season last weekend after 18 games without a victory.
Claire Adams has been a standout this season as she was on Sunday and will need to be at the top of her game to trouble the APIA defence.
On the contrary, it was disappointing from APIA. They had the opportunity to eliminate Bankstown from the finals, move into second place and drive into the playoffs, all at Lambert Park. But they failed.
It was one of those games APIA did not turn up for and have now made it must win in their last two games of the season.
They will need to ensure they don’t enter the game overly confident either or could easily slip up as the Illawarra Stingrays did.
It took a second half strike from Isabella Di Sipio to separate the two last time and the Jets will be full of belief they can steal the headlines with an upset.
Football NSW Institute v Sydney Olympic
Football NSW Institute will welcome Sydney Olympic on Sunday afternoon at Valentine Sports Park.
The Institute put in a couple good performances in the last seven days but weren’t able to secure any points for their good performances.
They have aspirations to finish as high as they can on the table and with three games to go in the last two week’s that is still achievable.
Olympic’s horror run home continues. On Thursday they entertain Bankstown City in a must win clash and then backing up again on Sunday when they travel to VSP.
They will be without Cortnee Vine who is away on Matildas duty but welcome back Jada Whyman and Charlie Rule in huge boosts for the club.
After a gruelling and disappointing loss mid-week to Uni, they managed to turn an early deficit around away from home against the Tigers and secure a massive three points. Four wins from their last four games and Olympic will be playing finals football but it won’t be easy.
Olympic won the earlier clash in the season with a comfortable 3-0 score line.
Blacktown Spartans v NWS Spirit
In the final game of the season at Blacktown Football Park, the Blacktown Spartans host NWS Spirit on Sunday.
A tough second half of the season saw the Spartans drop off the pace and subsequently miss out on finals football.
Ash Crofts still has hopes of taking out the golden boot and the Spartans will not want to drop down any further on the competition ladder either.
Spirit picked up their first win after five matches without a victory on Sunday afternoon in a five-goal thriller.
The visiting team knows that three points on Sunday will mean they move above their opponents on the ladder and go one place higher at least.
Spirit will be looking to do the double over the Spartans after defeating them 2-1 earlier on in the season.
Illawarra Stingrays v Northern Tigers
The Northern Tigers will travel down to the south coast on Sunday as they take on the Illawarra Stingrays.
Disappointingly, four matches in a row without a win have ended the Stingrays’ hopes of playing finals football. After putting themselves in a position to challenge, their hopes took a major blow.
In a must-win mid-week match, the Stingrays came up short after seemingly losing control having led at half time against Bankstown. That loss, with the defeat to the Jets was a tough way to go out after putting up an incredible fight in a very difficult season for the Stingrays.
A win against Olympic would have all but guaranteed finals football for the Tigers, instead, they lost and have now even brought their finals position into question.
They will need to respond against the Stingrays on Sunday afternoon in what will no doubt be a difficult away trip. Should the Tigers lose here and results not go their way, they could drop out of the top four having been there the whole season with just one game remaining.
The Tigers came out on top with a 3-1 victory back in early June.
Sydney University v Macarthur Rams
The Premiers Sydney University welcome the Macarthur Rams to Sydney Uni Football Ground on Sunday evening in the final match of the round.
Having secured first place, you could say that the Premiers will put their feet up. That won’t be the case with Emily Husband and she’ll be expecting a real response from her team after only their second loss of the campaign on Sunday.
Their 17-match unbeaten run came to an abrupt end at the hands of Manly and with finals only a couple weeks away, they will need to refocus, and get back onto the path of doing the double.
Stephen Peters will be happy his team has put themselves into a position where they are in control of their own fate. Two victories from their last two games means they will play finals football. Ultimately, even if they were to lose here but take the points against APIA on the final day, it should be enough.
Nevertheless, two wins means a potential home final and second place on the ladder, plus the mental edge should they meet Uni in the Grand Final. There is a lot more riding on this clash for the Rams and they’ll call upon their experienced head of Leena Khamis to lead them toward victory.
One goal each in the second half of their clash earlier in the season meant these two weren’t able to be separated, what will be the case here on Sunday?
-By NPL NSW Women’s Chief Writer and Commentator Nikola Pozder