Illawarra Mercury Premier League Grand Final Qualifier

Bulli vs Dapto Dandaloo Fury

Balls Paddock

Kick-off: Sunday, 2:30pm.

Referee: Bobby Mazevski

Dapto Dandaloo will be looking to avenge their 5-0 regular season defeat in the finest of fashions when they take on Bulli in the IPL Semi-Finals on Sunday at Balls Paddock.

The Fury qualified with a gutsy 2-1 comeback win over Wollongong United last weekend but will need to lift their performance if they hope to deny the 2014 League Champions a direct route to the Grand Final.

Player-coach Noel Spencer knows how important the win is and isn’t afraid to mix things up in order to get a result.

“We’re putting everything into this game because want that extra week off before the Grand Final,” said Spencer.

“I’ve got a couple of ideas up my sleeve in regards to personnel that we’ll take a look at in training this week and try to come up with the best formula to counter how Bulli play.

“We’re going into the game with a few different things in mind in regards to the way we play so if it’s not going our way then we have that option to change things up.

“Obviously they gave us a bit of a touch up last time we met so it’s very fresh in our minds and we don’t need much more motivation than that.

“We’ve done a bit of homework on them and so hopefully we can get things right on the park this time round.”

Bulli will see the pitch for the first time since wrapping up the League Championship on the final day of the season with a 2-0 win over Albion Park White Eagles.

Neither team carries any major injuries into the fixture but Bulli will certainly feel the fresher side after their extra week off.

With their main goal of winning the regular season tied up, the Northern Suburbs club has the chance to attack the finals with a renewed vigour.

“It’s all systems go again this weekend,” said Bulli boss Ben Smith.

“It’s a different ball game in the finals and anything can happen but we’re all really up for it and looking forward to diving into the finals.

“Generally these are always good games, they’ll try to play football all over the park and so will we so it should be a great game to watch.

“We set up quite similar; both teams tend to focus on their own game and try to take the initiative so it makes for an interesting encounter.”

In the last three seasons, Bulli and Dapto Dandaloo have faced off seven times with Bulli winning four, including a semi-final victory in 2012, but the Fury still retain bragging rights after their 2012 Grand Final win over the Northern Suburbs club.

There is a rich history of great rivalry between the two clubs and we can expect that to continue this weekend.

Illawarra Mercury Premier League Elimination Semi-Final

Port Kembla vs Wollongong United

Wetherall Park

Kick-off: Sunday, 2:30pm.

Referee: Steve Bozic

Wollongong United face off against Port Kembla on Sunday at Wetherall Park in what is becoming a healthy rivalry between the two clubs.

Earlier in the season United beat  Port in the Bert Bampton Cup Final and on the last day of the season Port were 1-0 winners in what was a fairly even season for the two teams.

The winner of this next clash will progress to the Preliminary Final while the loser will have to call time on their 2014 season.

“We know how important Sunday is,” said Wollongong boss Oli Vrtkovski.

“It’s do or die for us now and whichever team turns up on the day will get the result.

“We know Port Kembla are going to be eager, they’ve come into some good form over the last few weeks and they’ll be tough to break down; but we’ll take confidence out of the Cup Final win over them.

“The last two games we’ve played we have created a lot of chances so we’ll just keep doing that and hopefully be a bit more composed in front of goal.

“We’re confident we can score a few goals and then we should be able to prevent them from causing us some problems.

United were on the end of a heartbreaking last minute loss to Dapto Dandaloo in the Qualifying final and will be looking to bounce back in this semi-final.

Meanwhile, Port Kembla carry stellar form into the match with an unbeaten run stretching back to June.

The run involved nine wins including their impressive 3-1 victory over South Coast United in the Elimination Semi-Final last Sunday.

Despite the run, Port boss Stuart Beedie knows his team face a stiff challenge to earn some silverware this season.

“Finishing where we did means we have to play every week if we want to win and that’s a challenge that we have to be up for,” said Beedie.

“We were a bit slow to start but after that we were pretty much in control all the way so I was pretty happy with how we went.

“We fight all year to try and get into that top five and now it’s all about the battle to make the Grand Final.

“If there were any demons in regards to the Cup Final then we washed them away with the win a couple of weeks ago.

“We’ve got down to the last four now and hopefully we can get through to the last three then two and eventually be the last one standing.

“That’s our aim over the next few weeks and hopefully we can achieve that goal.”

Both clubs have little injury worries beyond the toll that a long season has taken on their players.

Carlo Stella is the only confirmed injury for Port while Wollongong have no major concerns.

 

Julian Keith 

FSC Reporter