Hawkesbury City FC gearing up for FFA Cup By ANDREW PARKINSON March 3, 2015, 2:28 p.m.


Hawkesbury City FC first grade coach Dean Bertenshaw last season. Picture: Geoff Jones

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FOOTBALL

IT HAS been a big couple of weeks for Hawkesbury City boss Dean Bertenshaw.

The first grade coach, who has returned to the club in 2015, saw the Hawks host NPL 1 champions Blacktown City in a pre-season friendly late last month followed by the draw for the preliminary rounds of the FFA Cup.

Hawkesbury City will host Gladesville Hornsby Football Association club West Ryde Rovers in round three in mid-March and a win would set up an exciting fourth round clash with NPL 2 promotion hopefuls St George.

Bertenshaw said the club would be totally committed to the FFA Cup.

“We’re taking it 100 per cent seriously,” he said.

“You love to be in the cup and it would be really good for the area if we could progress.

“We don’t know much about the opposition but we’ll be putting our best team on the park as well as giving some of our younger players a chance to step up.”

Bertenshaw returned to the Hawks after helping guide Blacktown City to the NPL 1 title last season.


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He said he was pleased with what he saw from his players in their 3-0 defeat to his former team.

“It was difficult for us,” he said.

“That was our first game which made it very tough whereas the Blacktown boys, other than being a very good side anyway, they’ve been back since November.

“They were far more advanced than us but we expected that.

“We knew as well that we’re seven weeks out from our first game of the season so we rotated a lot of players which was good.”

Bertenshaw said hosting a club of Blacktown’s pedigree was a sign of Hawkesbury’s development.

“It was a really good night actually,” he said.

“The grand stand and the hills were full. There were people everywhere.

“To have Blacktown’s first grade team come out and play us that would never have happened before so it was pretty special.”

The Hawks squad for the new campaign is all but finalised and includes new signings Ben Gough and Jason Browne.

“We’re pretty much done, we’ve only bought two new players so we’ve got a very settled squad,” Bertenshaw said.

“Ben is a three-time Australian schoolboy and with Jason they’re both ex-high level players from the Penrith area.”

Hawkesbury City starts their Football NSW State League 1 campaign on March 28 when they host Western NSW Mariners.

Speers Point pitches spark heated debate By CRAIG KERRY March 3, 2015, 9:30 p.m.
​


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STICKY UNDERFOOT: Maitland’s Harry Maguire playing against Cooks Hill in the FFA Cup at Speers Point on Saturday. Picture: Brock Perks
STICKY UNDERFOOT: Maitland’s Harry Maguire playing against Cooks Hill in the FFA Cup at Speers Point on Saturday. Picture: Brock Perks
NORTHERN NSW Football will re-evaluate its policy on playing matches in hot conditions at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility after concerns from coaches about extreme heat coming off the new synthetic pitches.

National Premier League teams played on the artificial surfaces in round three of the FFA Cup on Saturday.

For many players from the region’s top competition, it was the first time they had experienced the pitches, which were laid in December as part of the new $11.3million centre.

NNSWF implemented a FIFA-standard heat policy, which called for games to stop if temperatures reached 33degrees or a 30-degree wet-bulb reading was registered.

The maximum temperature on Saturday at Speers Point was 28.7, but a game at the centre was abandoned on Sunday due to the heat.

Charlestown coach Shane Pryce said some of his players had come away with blisters on their feet because of the heat coming off the surface.

‘‘It’s made for winter, and as a wet-weather ground or for catch-up games at night, it will be wonderful, but it’s not made for summer,’’ Pryce said.

Adamstown Rosebud coach Graham Law said ‘‘my players did not enjoy it’’.


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‘‘I grew up playing on synthetic surfaces in Europe, but they are not made for this heat,’’ Law said.

Lambton Jaffas coach David Tanchevski said his players had suffered blisters during a trial game on the surface a week earlier, but they had used Vaseline on Saturday to prevent a repeat.

Weston coach Trevor Morris said his side had pulled up well, but ‘‘the boys said it felt like their feet were melting through their shoes’’.

Hamilton coach Michael Bolch, Edgeworth’s Damian Zane and South Cardiff boss Greg Asquith said their players had no problems with the surface and came through the games well. Maitland’s Chris Turner said his players had told him ‘‘it felt sticky underfoot’’, but he ‘‘wouldn’t mind taking the team there again’’.

Broadmeadow coach Robert Virgili, who lost midfielder Alex Kantarovski for the season with a knee injury suffered on the surface on Saturday, said ‘‘the heat coming off the surface was unbelievable and the feedback from players was that it was a concern’’.

Law and Virgili have experience with watered synthetic turf overseas and were among coaches who believed a wet surface could help cool the ground and create better ‘‘give’’ underfoot.

But NNSWF chief executive David Eland said: ‘‘The surface is not designed at all to be watered. It is not like hockey.

‘‘This is state-of-the-art technology and the drainage is so good that watering it is a waste of time.

‘‘The water will go straight through the drainage cells and leave the surface.’’

Eland said rain on the pitch created extra humidity and even more heat.

He said he was ‘‘absolutely comfortable with having pre-season games’’ on the surface, but NNSWF would consider feedback from clubs and look at potentially delaying early FFA Cup fixtures until later in March, starting fixtures earlier in the day, having breaks in the middle of the day, having more games under lights and decentralising matches.

The FFA Cup qualifying series for Northern NSW will be at Speers Point in June.

Eland said ‘‘heat coming out of the surface is the only disadvantage that we have discovered’’ and the pitches had been brilliant despite been ‘‘absolutely thrashed’’ since being laid.

He said NNSWF had invested in underlay rubber which was purported to be 20per cent cooler, but there was no escaping the fact that the surface, filled with rubber and sand, would be hot in summer.

Hawkesbury City FC gearing up for FFA Cup By ANDREW PARKINSON March 3, 2015, 2:28 p.m.


Hawkesbury City FC first grade coach Dean Bertenshaw last season. Picture: Geoff Jones

See your ad here
FOOTBALL

IT HAS been a big couple of weeks for Hawkesbury City boss Dean Bertenshaw.

The first grade coach, who has returned to the club in 2015, saw the Hawks host NPL 1 champions Blacktown City in a pre-season friendly late last month followed by the draw for the preliminary rounds of the FFA Cup.

Hawkesbury City will host Gladesville Hornsby Football Association club West Ryde Rovers in round three in mid-March and a win would set up an exciting fourth round clash with NPL 2 promotion hopefuls St George.

Bertenshaw said the club would be totally committed to the FFA Cup.

“We’re taking it 100 per cent seriously,” he said.

“You love to be in the cup and it would be really good for the area if we could progress.

“We don’t know much about the opposition but we’ll be putting our best team on the park as well as giving some of our younger players a chance to step up.”

Bertenshaw returned to the Hawks after helping guide Blacktown City to the NPL 1 title last season.


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He said he was pleased with what he saw from his players in their 3-0 defeat to his former team.

“It was difficult for us,” he said.

“That was our first game which made it very tough whereas the Blacktown boys, other than being a very good side anyway, they’ve been back since November.

“They were far more advanced than us but we expected that.

“We knew as well that we’re seven weeks out from our first game of the season so we rotated a lot of players which was good.”

Bertenshaw said hosting a club of Blacktown’s pedigree was a sign of Hawkesbury’s development.

“It was a really good night actually,” he said.

“The grand stand and the hills were full. There were people everywhere.

“To have Blacktown’s first grade team come out and play us that would never have happened before so it was pretty special.”

The Hawks squad for the new campaign is all but finalised and includes new signings Ben Gough and Jason Browne.

“We’re pretty much done, we’ve only bought two new players so we’ve got a very settled squad,” Bertenshaw said.

“Ben is a three-time Australian schoolboy and with Jason they’re both ex-high level players from the Penrith area.”

Hawkesbury City starts their Football NSW State League 1 campaign on March 28 when they host Western NSW Mariners.

My favourite team name in the gap. We should all chose a favourite team based on the name.

FFA Cup Qualification (Brisbane Zone) Wednesday Night wrap:
University of Queensland 0 lost to Eastern Suburbs 3
Capalaba 2 lost to Virginia United 4
Westside 1 lost to Bayside United 4
Centenary Stormers 4 beat Mooroondu 1
Southside Eagles 1 lead Newmarket 0 (halftime score no available score update since)

Do you have this many teams compete in Sweden, Scott?

96 teams plus about 20 qualifiers. The numbers are capped. It's not a popular competition although the quickest way to Europe and the highest Europa League qualification round.
This is the second year they are using the current system.
It's really shit, has rankings, groups. It's much worse than the FFA Cup system.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svenska_Cupen
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_Svenska_Cupen

The Capalaba result is huge. Virginia are three tiers below them in Brisbane.

Any games this evening?

Just the one in Victoria - Keilor Wolves vs Melton Phoenix

Eh