Dapto Dandaloo vs Tarrawanna Blueys

Dandaloo Sports Ground

Kick-off: Sunday, 2:30pm

Referee: Steve Bozic

Dapto Dandaloo take on Tarrawanna in a top end of the table clash this Sunday as we creep towards the business end of the Illawarra Mercury Premier League season.

The Fury is locked in a battle for the League Championship while the Blueys are one of several teams vying for a top five finish and finals appearance.

Dapto Dandaloo Head Coach Norm Boardman is under no illusions of what the final period of the season means for the competition.

“The next month is going to be critical in terms of what happens in this season,” said Boardman.

“It’s definitely not a two horse race because there’s several teams at the top that are all fairly close in terms of footballing ability.

“It’s dangerous times really for those of us at the top end of the table.”

After slipping down as low as 10^th midway through the season, Tarrawanna have made a resurgent move up the table after putting together an impressive three straight wins.

The revival comes despite a much weakened squad which left Head Coach Luke McGuire with just 10 first grade players available.

“We’ve turned it around pretty well,” said McGuire.

“We have a very thin squad at the moment; I think we’ve got 10 regular first grade players available but the squads come together nicely and it’s been a real positive turn around for us.

“We’re not really thinking about the semi-finals right now, we’re outside the top five and for the moment it’s just about doing the little things right.

“If we can string a couple more wins together then hopefully we’ll be in a bit better position.”

The two teams were treated to a weekend off while the finals of the BloorRail Bert Bampton Cup were played but the break was received a mixed reception.

The Fury welcomes back some injured and travelling players that have left Coach Boardman relishing a selection headache of a different scale to Tarrawanna’s.

“We had a great session on Tuesday, we’ve only got one minor injury now with most of the boys back on deck and it was a pretty sharp training,” said Boardman.

“It makes it really competitive for spots now, if you’d seen the training session on Tuesday the guys were really switched on and they know that they’re all challenging for a place in the 11.”

The Blueys were also able to see the return of some injured players but for Coach McGuire the break came at a less than ideal time.

“The break was probably no-good for us, when you get on a bit of a streak like we have you’d probably like to keep it going,” said McGuire.

“That said a few guys have been able to get over a few bumps and bruises so that was probably the positive for us but we’d have preferred to keep playing.”

Earlier in the season, the Fury edged a 3-2 win over Tarrawanna in a challenging outing for both teams.

The previous match gives the coaches an opportunity to plan ahead as they look to gain a competitive advantage over each other.

“Luke’s pretty clever and he’ll have done his homework and know what to expect from our boys” said Boardman.

“He likes to change things around a bit to try and find an edge.”

“We’ll just need to worry about what we’re doing because they’ve got some good firepower up front and they don’t tend to concede many goals so they’ll be hard for us to break down.”

For Tarrawanna, the game presents the perfect opportunity to prove they deserve an appearance in this season’s finals and Coach McGuire expects a tricky occasion.

“They’re on a bit of a run and in great form themselves so it’s going to be a really tough battle for us on the weekend,” he said.

“I think they’ve probably improved since we played them but it’s going to be a tough one like every game is when we play Dandy.

“We always put up a pretty good game and hopefully this weekend is no different.”

 

Key Players:

Sam Munro has been Dapto Dandaloo’s driving force this season in his role sitting behind the strikers. The enthusiastic attacking midfielder is often the spark behind the Fury’s goals and has chipped in with four of his own this season.

Samet Kaynak has been Tarrawanna’s form player during their resurgence, contributing two vital goals in their last two games. The attacker’s good form sets up an enticing encounter with a stout Dapto Dandaloo backline that’s only conceded 13 goals this season.

 

Julian Keith 

FSC Reporter