Saturday 6 April 

Bulli vs South Coast United @ Balls Paddock - 2.30 pm

Bulli’s opening week of the season has been close to ideal with Matt Bailey’s side progressing in the FFA Cup, thumping local rivals Woonona and picking up a point with virtually the last kick of the match in the midweek catch up tie at home to Corrimal.

South Coast will rue the missed chance to take all three points against Fernhill last weekend with the match finishing 2-2 after United led by two goals midway through the first half. Now they face the competition champions which kicks off a horror six-game run for Greg Valic’s side where they face all of last season’s top five.

One can’t expect South Coast to bake their bread in this sort of match but they should do better than the last time they visited Balls Paddock where they lost 6-0.

Bulli

Fernhill Foxes vs Tarrawanna Blueys @ Ray Robinson Field - 2.30 pm

Fernhill salvaged a point after being two goals down away to South Coast United last weekend with their nippy attacker Alex Rooke picking up a double.

Tarrawanna also found themselves two goals down in round two, they were away to Cringila but they managed to respond with four of their own to secure a 4-2 win.

Fernhill upset the Blueys in this fixture way back in round one of 2018 with a single Mitch Turner strike the difference between the sides. Tarrawanna will be looking to make amends this time around.

Tarrawanna Blueys

Coniston vs Cringila Lions @ JJ Kelly Park - 2.30 pm

Coniston would have been cursing the fixture gods when they draw Wollongong United and Olympic in the opening two rounds but from all reports, they were relatively competitive in both matches despite losing 4-2 and 2-1 respectively.

Crinigla are also without a point going in to round two but there were certainly positives in their 4-2 defeat at home to Tarrawanna last Friday night - namely new striker Ryoga Uemoto scoring a double inside the first 10 minutes. Unfortunately, for the remaining 80 minutes, he barely touched the ball in the final third.

This traditional derby match hasn’t been contested since August 2013 when Cringila Lions came from behind to beat the then Coniston Lions 3-1 at JJ Kelly Park.

Mark Picciolini is a notable out for Coniston through suspension so if Cringila are up for the contest a draw could be on the cards.

Draw

Port Kembla vs Woonona Sharks @ Wetherall Park - 2.30 pm

Port Kembla have beaten both Fraternity Club Cup finalists in their opening two matches which should make them favourites heading into this clash. Brad Acev has been in fine early form with all three of Port’s goals this season coming through the young forward.

Woonona have built up plenty of goodwill over preseason before winning in the opening round and progressing in the FFA Cup, however, a 4-0 defeat to local rivals Bulli has sent the Sharks back to the drawing board.

Port are in form, they beat Woonona 2-1 at Wetherall Park in the preseason cup and a similar scoreline isn’t out of the question.

Port Kembla

Sunday 7 April

Wollongong Olympic vs Albion Park White Eagles @ PCYC - 2.30 pm

It would be inaccurate to describe Wollongong Olympic as sitting pretty at the top of the table, but at the top of the table they are after a 2-1 win at Coniston last Sunday. Olympic drew NPL 3 side Dulwich Hill in the FFA Cup earlier this week and that match could potentially come within a few days of this fixture. 

Albion Park rebounded from a terrible first round showing and an FFA Cup exit on the Central Coast to record a solid 2-1 win over Wollongong United last weekend. In that match, Paul Carter’s side showed the sort of urgency that propelled them to the Fraternity Club Cup final and they will need that here against the side who have beat them by an aggregate score of 7-1 over the last two meetings.

Wollongong Olympic

Corrimal Rangers vs Wollongong United @ Memorial Park - 3 pm

Corrimal have had a stuttering start to the season with the departure of coach Jason Davkovski coming just before a lacklustre defeat to Port Kembal last weekend. On Wednesday night they played their round one catch up match against Bulli and they were unfortunate to go down to a speculative effort in the final embers of the match. 

Wollongong United only made one change to their starting eleven between round one and two but the latter was a cumbersome defeat to Albion Park White Eagles. Icko Atanasoski’s side didn’t get enough shots on goal and a failure to get the ball to striker Naoki Ogawa may underpin that.

The result? Who knows, but it is sure to be a fierce contest.

Draw

Preview by Dylan Arvela, on Twitter @dylanarvela

File photo by Dana Guthrie