Match Preview

Hawke’s Bay United vs Southern United
Bluewater Stadium, Napier
Sunday 9 December, 1pm
#ISPSHandaPrem #HBvSU

Referee: N Waldron
Assistant Referees: G Sheehan, T Pedley
Fourth Official: E Cook

Squads

Hawke’s Bay United: 1. Mackenzie Waite (GK), 2. Anders Eriksson, 3. Liam Schofield, 4. Cameron Lindsay, 6. Daniel Allan, 9. Sam Mason-Smith, 10. Sho Goto, 11. Maxime Oliveri, 12. Ben Lack, 14. Birhanu Taye, 17. Jordan Lamb, 21. Bjorn Christensen, 22. Karan Mandair, 23. Jorge Akers, 24. Dilan Nanayakkara, 26. Alexander Britton (GK)
Coach: Brett Angell

Southern United: 1. Liam Little (GK), 2. Conor O’Keeffe, 3. Rory Findlay, 4. Stephen Last, 5. Erik Panzer, 6. Danny Ledwith, 7. Ben Deeley, 8. Tony Whitehead, 9. Garbhan Coughlan, 10. Abdulla Al-Kalisy, 11. Benjamin Wade, 12. Nick Treadwell, 13. Adam Hewson, 15. Blake Weston, 16. Stewart Catto (GK), 18. Markus Fjortoft
Coach: Paul O’Reilly

Lowdown

Both these sides are on identical runs of form, drawing one and then winning two of their previous three games. Southern are now level on points with fourth-placed Hamilton and have played at least one less game than all other sides while Hawke’s Bay are two points further back. This game is therefore quite significant as the victor could really put themselves in the play-off mix ahead of the Christmas break while the loser would have their work cut out to haul themselves up to the top four in the new year. A defeat could prove particularly damaging for the Bay, who are set to end the year next week at home to Eastern Suburbs – a side that outclassed them 5-0 on the opening weekend.

Quotes

Danny Ledwith (Southern United): “We’re really looking forward to it after a good result last week, it was a good performance and we’re looking to build on that. We know it’s going to be a tough game, Hawke’s Bay have been on a good run and will have a strong team up there but we’re confident that, if we get our performance right, we can go and hopefully take three points.”