Now that the home & away season is over, it’s time for knockout football! All four teams are coming into the Men’s Premier League semi finals on the back of wins in Round 22, which means we are sure to see plenty of excitement on Saturday evening.
Pittwater RSL are gunning for a Treble after securing the league championship and the Challenge Cup. A nine game winning streak saw Pittwater claim top spot and they have scored 26 goals in those games, so the Greens will be confident heading into Saturday’s game against Mosman.
However, Mosman have had a strong second half of the campaign – after being involved in an intense mid-table scrap at one point, they secured finals football thanks to a run of only one loss in the final eight rounds of the home & away season.
Pittwater completed a league double over Mosman with 3-1 and 2-0 triumphs, but as they say anything can happen in the finals, so we’ll see a thrilling game when these two meet on the main field at Cromer Park.
Narrabeen might consider themselves unlucky after six consecutive wins wasn’t quite enough for them to claim the championship. They’ve also kept three clean sheets in their last four outings, and defensive strength can often be the key to success in knockout football.
CC Strikers will be Narrabeen’s opponents and with 11 goals scored in their last three games, Strikers have the attacking firepower to challenge that solid Narrabeen defence. In the opening rounds, we saw what happens when Strikers get on a roll – they’re a dangerous side when they’re in the mood.
These two teams split the points during the home & away campaign, with Strikers winning 3-2 in Round 1, before Narrabeen squared the ledger with a 2-0 victory in Round 12. All things point to an even contest on Cromer Park Field 2.
We also have the Reserve Grade semi finals at 4:30pm on Saturday, with CC Strikers facing Pittwater on Cromer Park Field 1, and Mosman playing Wakehurst on Cromer Park Field 2.
MWFA Men’s Premier League Semi Finals
Saturday 19 August
1st Grade @ 6:30pm
Pittwater RSL v Mosman, Cromer Park Field 1
Narrabeen v CC Strikers, Cromer Park Field 2
Reserve Grade @ 4:30pm
CC Strikers v Pittwater RSL, Cromer Park Field 1
Mosman v Wakehurst, Cromer Park Field 2
Feature image courtesy Jeremy Denham – https://www.facetphotography.com.au/