Lew's Predictions

Round 11 of the Dycer Construction Wester Border Soccer Association promises to be the most interesting so far. League leaders Inter take on the improving Blue Lake who are in fourth spot. Second placed Apollo will shoot it out with third placed Centrals. The Sharks (fourth) host Millicent (fifth) and Naracoorte make the long trip to bottom placed Portland in the battle for the wooden spoon.

In the match of the round Apollo are at home to Centrals and need to win to keep pace with Inter. Apollo won against Blue Lake last week and will be hot favourite to take the points again this week. They are playing well at the moment and have plenty of depth with Gavin Hancock and Marcus Wallace both playing well in the reserves last week. Im sure that Apollo coach Derek Ferguson will spend a lot of time deciding his final line up. So far this year the have beaten each other but since Centrals defeated Apollo in the first game they have lost Bruce Morale for the rest of the season with a calf injury and Cameron Hart to Geelong.
Apollo has slowly gained momentum after the loss to the lions and beat Inter to prove they are the real deal in2009. Centrals still have no Morale, Mitchell Cutting, Peter Robbins, Alex Bissell and last week played without goal keeper Brodey Koop.
Adam Hodge and Stuart Wallace for Apollo will be hard to hold for the Centrals defence and skipper Jesse Wenham and Shane Heemskerk will have their hands full.
The midfield battle between Matt Gordan and Paul Prentis will determine the tempo of the match and the lions will also need to find a way at corners and stoppages to combat the size of Stenner and Odgers. Centrals are a bogey team for Apollo with the lions leading the head to head 4-2 over the last two years and will want to show that there is still some fight down at Bishop Road Apollo to win 3-1.
Inter host Blue Lake and will not take them lightly after just holding on to win 3-2 in their last encounter. Inter have so many avenues to score goals that the Blues defence will need to be at their very best. With Joel Redfern, Christian Cella, Marcus Morony and Adam Osman all scoring regularly it is very hard to see any team holding them scoreless, therefore the only way to defeat them is to outscore them. Blue Lake played well Against Apollo last week but until they can convert the numerous chances that they create they will not beat the big teams. Mitchell Thomson, Tristan Guess, Callum Ferguson and Walter Chatindiara are all capable of scoring goals but when they are up against the big guns they aren’t able to convert the pressure goals. When they can do this they will take a big scalp, for their sake it must be this week as there is no bigger scalp than Inter at home. I won’t be surprised if Blue Lake cause an upset but I am tipping Inter to win 4-2.
Millicent travel to Shark Park and the loser of this game can forget about finishing in the top 4. The Sharks confidence must be at an all time low after getting thumped by Naracoorte 8-2 last week and I do not think that they will bounce back. Their player unavailability has been just one of the problems this year, but there may be other factors either way they will have to turn their form around 180degrees to get at least a point. Millicent had a rare thrashing last week but I am sure that they have the players and commitment to get back into form against the Sharks. Millicent to win 4-1.
Naracoorte make the longest trip in the league going down to the winless Portland. Both teams had good results last week with Naracoorte defeating the Sharks and Portland only just losing to Centrals at Centrals. Portland has been improving slowly and with a home game should be able to field strong teams and not rely on players having to play two or three games. Naracoorte on the other hand may not have a full squad able to make the trip and for that reason I think Portland will be able to have their first win of the year. Portland to win 3-2.