With four games to go in the National Premier Leagues Women’s NSW competition, we have a real race to the Premiership as well as only five points separating third to ninth.
Northern Tigers v Blacktown Spartans
4pm, Sunday 4 August, North Turramurra Rec Area
Northern Tigers will open the round at North Turramurra on Sunday afternoon as the Blacktown Spartans come to town.
After a couple good results for the Tigers, they seemed to be heading in the right direction with finals football around the corner.
They suffered a damaging defeat on Sunday against the Bulls Academy but got Shadeene Evans on the scoresheet and she will be key for them in the run in home.
Three straight defeats for the Spartans has them bottom of the table, but perhaps more importantly, they are also bottom of the club championship.
Every point will be extremely important for them in the run home and even a draw would be considered successful on this tough away trip.
APIA Leichhardt v NWS Spirit
5pm, Sunday 4 August, Lambert Park
An exciting game awaits us at Lambert Park on Sunday night as APIA Leichhardt host NWS Spirit.
APIA lost their first game after going 19 matches undefeated down the south coast on Sunday against their ‘bogey’ team, the Illawarra Stingrays.
They are down in troops with a number of key players unavailable at the moment, but have enough depth to remain competitive and expectant to come away with points.
With the Rams patiently waiting for another slip up, Brad Attard will need to keep his team focused before the blockbuster final game of the season.
Spirit are one of the most in form teams in the competition and have had a remarkable second half of the season, losing only once in their last nine starts.
Those results have given them an opportunity to throw themselves into finals football, in particular with a game in hand, they will be confident the job will get done.
With Ella Abdul Massih, Morgan Roberts and Talia Younis leading the line, the APIA defence will need to be up to the task.
Emerging Jets v Bulls FC Academy
5pm, Sunday 4 August, Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility
At Lake Macquarie, the Emerging Jets welcome Bulls FC Academy north on Sunday for this clash.
The Jets have made major improvements in the second half of the campaign and are currently on a four-game unbeaten run.
With finals aspirations over for them, they will still want to finish as high as possible on the ladder.
Just as everyone had counted the Bulls out of finals contention, they win back-to-back games and throw their hat right back in the mix.
It won’t be easy with results needing to go their way but most importantly, they need to win on Sunday to keep the pressure on those ahead of them.
Illawarra Stingrays v Football NSW Institute
5pm, Sunday 4 August, Macedonia Park
The Illawarra Stingrays face off against the Football NSW Institute on Sunday at Macedonia Park.
With a dominant victory over APIA, the Stingrays kept their slight hopes of taking out the Premiership alive.
They haven’t secured finals football yet though so that would be the imperative and a win here puts them one step closer.
It’s been a bad run of form for the Institute, losing seven games in a row and tumbling down the ladder.
This will be a tough trip away where points will be difficult to come by.
Sydney University v UNSW
5pm, Sunday 4 August, Sydney Uni Football Park
At Sydney University Football Ground, Sydney University take on UNSW in the battle of the students.
Throughout the whole season, Sydney Uni have been somewhat inconsistent, not being able to get on a proper run.
Olivia Vanderlaan scored a brace last week and brought the points home for Sydney Uni, they’ll require the same again.
UNSW snapped a seven-game winless run mid-week last Thursday when they defeated Sydney Olympic.
They couldn’t back it up on Sunday as they went down to the Macarthur Rams but will have enough belief they can come away with something from this one.
Macarthur Rams v Sydney Olympic – MOTR
5pm, Sunday 4 August, Lynwood Park
The match of the round takes us to Lynwood Park on Sunday as the Macarthur Rams take on Sydney Olympic.
With news of their head coach Stephen Peters getting his well-deserved Liberty A-League call up, the Rams were able to put that aside and move within one point of the league leaders APIA Leichhardt.
Peters would love to finish the season by taking the Premiership and Championship (won the last two grand finals) before moving on to the Perth Glory.
The Rams are on an eight-game unbeaten run, notching up six clean sheets along the way.
Olympic come into this game off a last gasp winner against the Blacktown Spartans, snapping a run of three straight losses.
After being on the verge of challenging for the Premiership, they are now in danger of dropping out of the top four.
They should have Demi Koulizakis back this week it’s obvious how important she is to this Olympic team.
Gladesville Ravens v Manly United
5:10pm, Sunday 4 August, Christie Park
The final game of the round takes us to Christie Park as the Gladesville Ravens host Manly United.
This game is an old fashioned six-pointer, whoever loses here, their finals hopes are all but over.
Consecutive losses for the Ravens and six goals in two games has seen them drop off the pace.
They get Lexie Moreno back which will be important in their build up play in the attacking third.
Manly have found form at the right time of the season and are five games undefeated.
The 1-1 draw last weekend against the Emerging Jets was a minor set back but they will be desperate for the three points here.
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By Nikola Pozder
