Woongarrah v Budgewoi
The two promoted teams of the 2023 season will face off this Saturday night at Hamlyn Terrace for a high-stakes match as Woongarrah look to end the weekend as league leader while the opposition Budgewoi is fighting to keep their finals dreams alive.
Woongarrah find themselves just one point off the league leaders Berkeley Vale heading into this weekend. The Wildcats were in last place after three rounds but have since turned it all around and haven’t looked back, winning eight of their last nine fixtures.
With such an influx of new players at the start of the year, it took this side some time to gel, but the quality of these signings have proved their worth as they have quickly become one of the competition’s heavyweights.
Their one slip-up in this incredible run of form came against their local rivals Kanwal as their squad got swept with a virus that affected multiple players. “We struggled a lot with boys being sick or injured throughout the busy schedule of games.”
“It was the worst I’ve ever been a part of in all my time in the game, but we came out of that with only the one loss, so massive credit goes to all the boys in our squad for their commitment and dedication. With most of the boys now returning to full fitness the morale is great amongst the side.”
The last time Luke Rogers got promoted to MPL, back in 2019, he was able to lead his side to the Grand Final where they fell just short in extra time to Killarney 3-2 after leading the Terriers 2-0.
With a similar season unfolding this year, Rogers will be adamant that his side takes it one game at a time, and with the competition being so close, a minor slip-up could see them go from challenging for league champions to battling to stay inside the top four.
Rogers spoke on the competition as a whole this season compared to other seasons. “I feel this MPL season is probably the closest it’s been in the last 10 years. No game is an easy one and with four games to go you still have the top seven sides fighting to play finals football.”
Fortunately for Woongarrah, they finish their season with five straight home games with one already in the books. Last weekend the Wildcats welcomed Woy Woy to their home and sent the relegation-bound side back to the peninsula with zero points as they were able to record a 3-0 victory over the Roosters.
Jacob Melling was a standout for his side once again as the former A-League man is finding his season-best form and even had a goal-of-the-season contender to show for it.
That victory marked just their fourth clean sheet of the year as Woongarrah currently record their second-worst defensive record in the top seven teams of the competition.
Nonetheless, Woongarrah recorded victory over Budgewoi just two weekends ago in their first meeting of the year as Rogers voiced what he learnt from that side during that match and what his team will need to do to record victory again this weekend.
“It’s a hard one to gauge our game against Budge a few weeks ago and what to expect this time around. You have to prepare and adapt to a different style of play due to the size of their home field. I thought we did that really well with the minimal preparation we had.”
“Budgewoi’s confidence will be high after beating Southern away from home and they have plenty of attacking threats all over the park, so we are going to have to defend well as a team if we are to have a chance to win this one.”
With their season on the line last weekend, Budgewoi had the difficult task of heading to the peninsula to face title contenders Southern & Ettalong. After a gruelling ninety minutes of back-and-forth action, Budgewoi scrapped their way to a 1-0 victory over the Lions to ensure they still have a chance of making the top four.
With their season once again on the line and another title challenger in their way, Budgewoi must step on enemy lines and claim another victory against a tough opposition.
With many outsiders labelling Budgewoi their underdogs for the 2024 season, they started their season with the best possible outcome, defeating the reigning champions Killarney in their first match.
Haydn Appo’s men have struggled with consistency in their first year back in top-flight football as they currently sit in seventh place with six wins, two draws, and six losses.
Budgewoi are the only team inside the top seven sides that are all challenging for a finals spot but currently boast a negative goal difference as their defence has only claimed two clean sheets, one last week, and one in their first fixture against Killarney.
Coming up against the most in-form side of the competition, Budgewoi’s backline will need to be at their absolute best again this weekend if they wish to have any success.
These two sides have quite the history which saw them battle in a Division 1 Grand Final last season. Expect another fierce and fiery encounter between these two teams on Saturday night as neither side will see losing as a possibility when they step on the pitch and give it their all for the entire ninety minutes.
Match Official – Gerrod Young
All Round 5 Results –
