Berkeley Vale v Southern & Ettalong
In-form league leaders Southern & Ettalong will look to avenge their only loss of the season so far when they meet Berkeley Vale for the round 11 match of the round under the bright lights of Mingara Oval on Saturday night.
Berkeley enter this highly anticipated second meeting with the Lions coming off their inaugural loss of the season after going down 3-2 away from home against Woongarrah last weekend.
After leading 2-0 in the second half, the Wombats seemed to be steering towards their fifth win of the season.
However, Mark Pratt’s men weren’t able to put the game away after creating enough opportunities to do so and it cost them dearly as the Wildcats fought their way back to snatch the victory.
Nonetheless, Pratt is hopeful this drop in form is only temporary. “We have probably hit a little bit of a slump in form as most teams do for various reasons but hopefully it’s only a short slump in form.”
Pratt also stated, “It’s not unusual after the first loss of the year to feel like it’s the worst thing on earth but these things happen. It’s less about the loss and more about the response that’s important.”
Berkeley Vale now have the hard task of picking themselves back up as they prepare to face the most in-form team in the competition but will enter this weekend knowing they have what it takes to defeat this Southern outfit.
In their first meeting in the first fixture of the year, Berkeley travelled to James Browne Oval and put on a masterclass which saw them leave 4-1 victors.
Berkeley Vale will be adamant about repeating that result and should enter the game high of confidence despite last week’s slip-up.
The Wombats will also be boosted by the return of their star player, co-recipient of the 2023 MPL Player of the Year award Jakeb Brownlow, who will be looking to play an influential role and make his mark on the game from the opening whistle.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Pratt insists his side won’t enter the contest with the upper hand. “No advantage to us as Southern are on an impressive run at the moment and are the team with all of the form.”
“They should be full of confidence with some recent big wins, we will need to convert any opportunities that come our way.”
It’s no shock that Southern & Ettalong enter round 11 as league leaders as their recent run of form has been unmatched.
After beginning their year with a subpar performance, Matt Page and his squad have been a force to be reckoned but Page states they still have a long way to go. “With the change of coaching staff after a long stint of Dale Eggleton at the helm, it was always going to take a little while for the boys to adjust to the change.”
“But with Dale putting such great foundations in place, the boys have shown they have been well equipped to handle the situation and I think we are just now starting to see them get the grasp of some of the ideas that we have added to what Dale had instilled.”
“However, we still have a hell of a lot of room for improvement, but I’m happy with how the lads are travelling so far. The key is now to keep building on this early work”
Southern, who enter the weekend on a five-game winning streak, have also been able to score five goals in three of their last four fixtures as they currently boast the best-attacking record in the league with 24 goals in seven games.
Jacob Lepre (9) and Jack Ellwood (6) once again have entered the season in spectacular form as this duo is responsible for more than half of Southern’s goals so far this year.
The other co-recipient of the 2023 MPL Player of the Year award, Jacob Lepre, currently leads the Golden Boot standings with his nine goals but will come up against the resilient backline of Berkeley Vale who have only conceded eight goals all year.
Ahead of their clash this weekend, Page reflected on their last bout with Berkeley and what his side learnt from the loss. “Being the first round, we were very early on in our journey as a squad. But we did learn a few things about both us and the opposition that night.”
“For us, we learnt that we needed to take our chances when they present themselves. We had a couple of opportunities to take an early lead, but when we didn’t, Berkeley took advantage to go ahead, and the scenario became much more difficult.”
We are still not perfect in this aspect of the game but have improved quite a bit from that first round and have also learned to keep our composure if we suffer an early setback. Whenever we’ve conceded early, since that game, we have still managed to get points, which shows the character of the lads.”
“In terms of the what we learnt about the opposition, they are a very well organised side, who will hurt you if you don’t keep up the required level of concentration, and they are strong all over the park.”
Page also spoke on what he anticipates from the opposition come Saturday night and what his team will need to do to keep their spot on top of the ladder and walk away with all three points.
“I anticipate a very hard-fought contest between two good sides. The onus is on us to overturn that result from the first meeting.”
“I know Jakeb Brownlow is back this week after missing the last few games and he will be a welcome addition for them. And it’s not just him we have to worry about, the wombats have quality throughout their squad and Gumps always puts out a side worthy of winning any match.”
“Much like the last few weeks, we have to worry about our game and keep trying to build in this middle part of the season. Berkeley Vale are a very dangerous side, and whilst they have a very strong lineup, are well coached, and have beaten us already, I am confident that if we can play to our potential, we can grab the points this time around.”
Match Official – Miles Allen-Scott
All Round 11 Fixtures –
