Men
Millicent United v Gambier Centrals
Gambier Centrals will travel to Millicent on Sunday as they face Millicent United who make their return to the Barry Maney Premier League A Grade competition.
Last time Millicent had an A Grade side it was 2023 and it was not a successful year, only picking up four points for the season with a win and a draw.
After a year out of the A grade Millicent will be looking to make an impact on Sunday.
Centrals had a solid win last Friday night as they came away with the hard fought three points against Inter.
In that match Central’s defence was strong, picking up the clean sheet on the backs of Alex Hill in goals and Jake Blackwell at centre back.
Although they got the win there is still a lot of room for improvement for this side.
Centrals head coach Scott Dickson says the side should be stronger on Sunday with a few new additions returning to the squad.
“We have a couple of players coming back in for the game against Millicent, so we will be stronger,” he said.
“We really just want to concentrate playing good football and working on the things that we have been working on at training.
“So it’s not so much about the result because the result will take care of itself if we play good football and that’s the plan this week.”
Given how well Centrals performed last week, plus the returning players to the side, this should be an easy win for the Lions on Sunday.
International v Apollo
International will host its home opener on Sunday when they take the field against Apollo.
Both sides will be on the rebound this week after tough round one losses.
The reigning premiers will be looking to have a strong performance after a slow start to the season on Friday night where they failed to score a goal.
Apollo on the other hand looked alright on Sunday despite the result, showing good patches of play when they had a chance of coming away with some points but could not hold off Blue Lake.
This should be a very competitive match as both sides will be eager to pick up some points.
After missing last week’s game it will be interesting to see if Matt Bueti returns to the side which will give Inter a much needed boost.
Despite the result Inter’s wingers of Sam Bueti and Sar Hay Moo had a solid game last week and will look to build off that heading into this game.
I believe Inter will come out on top in this match as they tend to play well at home.
Blue Lake v Portland Panthers
The Panthers will head to the Mount on Sunday to take on Blue Lake at Malseed Park.
Both sides are coming off solid games last week and will look to build off that success.
The Panthers had a great home win last week against an opponent who will likely struggle this year.
Blue Lake had a great win over Apollo where they worked hard in the first half to come away with the victory.
Despite the 6-0 win over Naracoorte last week this will be Portland’s first challenge as Blue Lake look to be a side that will be in contention for the premiership.
Portland will need their playing coach Troy Jensen to have another quality performance after scoring four goals last week, while Blue Lake’s Gay Nai Hsar also had a solid game, finishing with a brace.
I believe this should be a very competitive match as these are two great sides, however I think Blue Lake will come away with the win as they play their home opener.
Women
Blue Lake v Portland Panthers
Blue Lake will take on Portland this Saturday at Malseed Park, with both sides having very different games last week despite both of them getting one point.
The Panthers had a shootout against Naracoorte where they had a 5-5 draw while Blue Lake had a 0-0 draw with the reigning premiers Apollo.
It will be good to see how Blue Lake bounce back from last week despite getting the clean sheet against Apollo.
It will be interesting to see if Portland can continue the form they had against Naracoorte and improve defensively because they will not get too many matches where they conceded five goals and still come away with points.
Similar to the men’s match up between these clubs, this should be a very good watch and I think Portland will come away with the points in this one.
Millicent United v Gambier Centrals
Gambier Centrals will hit the road on Sunday as they take on Millicent United.
Centrals are coming off a great win last week where they defeated Inter by five goals while also holding a clean sheet.
Millicent will head into this game fresh and ready after coming off a great season in 2024 where they made the grand final.
The Centrals youngsters of Patience Taipiha and Jasmine Siemon will look to have another great performance after dominating the game on Friday night.
Millicent’s Lana Shepherd will be set to build off a successful 2024 where she was Millicent’s main goal scorer.
I think Millicent’s experience will be too much for the young Centrals side.
International v Apollo
Inter will host Apollo on Sunday as both sides look to get the three points.
Inter are coming off a tough 5-0 loss last Friday night while Apollo had an interesting game which resulted in a 0-0 draw.
After only having one draw last season, Apollo will not want to drop points too many times this season as they look to go back-to-back.
Inter, on the other hand, will be aiming to secure some points early on in the season after a tough 2024.
After a disappointing result for Apollo last week I believe they will bounce back this week with a big win over Inter on Sunday.
