Round 10 - 2nd half of season

[chelsea]

I would honestly have to say that this has been the best start to the 1A Div ever. I have been involved with the CSL since 1998. There is no easy game anymore and every team has tasted defeat. On the day everyone can beat each other or at least still a point.
The league is in great shape and its credit to the people that have got it to this stage. Thats the CSL and the clubs. Alot of work has happened at all levels to make it this competitive. Credit to everyone in 1A and also 2A to making this happen.

Top 4 after 9 rounds - Half way through the season.

1st - Grads Red - 18pts - Game in hand vs Rostrevor.
Excellent 1st half of season after coming up from Div 2A. Could be 3pts clear if they beat Rostrevor on July 7th in the catch up game. Title contenders.

2nd - Unley - 18pts
Excellent 1st half of season. Sitting equal top on points and still in cup. Credit to the new coach and whole group. Special mention to the defence. Best in the league. 8 goals conceded. 3 of these were against Pulteney.
Title contenders

3rd - SHOC - 18pts
Good 1st half the season. Sitting equal top. Defence is the worry this year for them. In 4 games they have conceded 2 or more goals. Some unexpecting results left them dropping at least 5pts. Get the defence right and they will be title contenders.

4th - Mercedes - 17pts
New coach - Good start to the season. Need to reduce red cards and keep 11 men on the field. Too many times this has cost them points. Always around the mark. Very consistent team. Title contenders.

One of these 4 teams will be champions in 2102. It would take a huge effort from a team outside this 4.

Some great games this week:

Game of the week:

Mercedes v Unley

Twice Unley has beaten Mercedes this year (League & Cup). Local Derby. Unley coming off a defeat, so it will be interesting how they react. I expect Mercedes to be very, very hungary for this one. Will be a top game.
I will tip Unley again. People on here complain I dont tip them. Tipped them last week and they lost.
Unley - 2-1

Pembroke v Regency - Draw

Pulteney v Rostrevor - Draw

SHOC v UniSA - Draw

Uni White v Grads Red

Big Game here. Uni Rivals. I have a feeling Uni White might get them this week.
Uni White 2-1

[Balotelli]

Good stuff Mr Chelsea. I agree that this year has been the most topsy turvy year in many years. There are no easy games at all in division 1A.

I have no idea this week, but here are some guesses:

Mercedes v Unley
Mercedes don't get beaten twice in the league in the same season by the same team very often. This will be an epic contest. Unley won't want to lose two in a row but the odds are against them.
Merecedes to win 2-1

Pembroke v Regency
The Eagles are flying high judging by their past few results. They don't tend to travel well though. Pembroke are up and down too. Anything is possible in this game. A Pembroke win could see them back in the mix, depending upon how other results go.
Pembroke to win 3-1

Pulteney v Rostrevor
They had a tight game last time. Will come down to who wants it more in a potential relegation 6 pointer. Rostrevor could be inspired by Italy though and a week off last week might help them.
Rostrevor to win 3-1 (a Pirlo style penalty caught by the Pulteney goalie to deny Rostrevor a 4th goal)

Sacred Heart v Uni SA
SHOC will be fuming after Wednesday night. Uni SA's players are probably all away on uni holidays and they are going to be on the receiving end of a comprehensive beating.
SHOC to win 3-0

Uni White v Grads Red
Like Mr Chelsea, I sense an upset in the Uni derby. A Uni White win would even up the division even more.
Uni White to win 2-1

Italy to win Euro 2012 too, on penalties.

[cruie]

Mercs v Unley
The big game of the day, between two clubs with as close a set of records as you are going to see. Only 2 goals scored and 3 conceeded between the two teams. So should be a real battle.

I'll back Unley's defense to carry on with its miserly ways and shut out Mercs, then nick something up the other end for a big three points.

Away Win 0-1

Pembroke v Eagles
A game that will show whether the Eagles have turned a corner and are on the up, or whether their early season form (and some disasterous away trips) will return to haunt them.

Last year - in D2A - the Eagles were tough to contain and I'm going to back them to have turned that corner and be up and at teams away as well as at home, from now on. It wasn't so much that they defended too well, more that it was almost impossible to defend against them.

The last 3 weeks of results will have given them a real lift and they will be a handful for Pembroke, tomorrow, I think.

Cheeky Away Win 2-3

Pultney v Rostrevor
Suddenly finding themselves down at the wrong end of the table will give Rostrevor a kick up the backside and I think they'll heep more misery on poor old Pultney.

Away Win 0-2

SHOC v UniSA
I can't see SHOC slipping up, especially not after that mid week result v the Eagles. A bit of a back lash will see off the Uni-boys, who are scoring less than a goal a game.

Home Win 3-0

Uni White v Grads Red
I can't see the Reds slipping up here, despite the rivalary. The Whites defense leaks two goals a game, The Reds only 1. I think that will be the difference

Hard fought Away Win 1-2

[Balotelli]

Anyone know what happened with Sacred Heart v Uni SA div 1A yesterday?

[White Unicorn]

The referee called it off at half time with shoc up 2 nil due to unruly behaviour from the Unisa players and supporters towards the ref. Will be very interesting to see how the CSL handle this...

[avagoyamug]

Anyone know what happened with Sacred Heart v Uni SA div 1A yesterday?

Yes - shocup 2-0 and in complete control when foul in front of Uni Sa fans by a shoc player about 40mins in. I Didn't see the foul clearly as it was too far away but looked quite heavy. Ref gave a yellow to the shoc player and the uni sa fans invaded the pitch and surrounded players and ref. Kicked balls at ref, kicked ball away in frustration hitting tree branches etc; Uni Sa player then red carded? - and generally menancing behaviour towards players and bystanders...plenty of kids in the crowd guys, disgusting.

The ref called game off; then the uni sa guys continued to go on with it; never felt 100% like it was going to errupt but also bad enough that cops were called. Finally uni sa guys left and the Shoc crowd stayed for a bit to let it go quiet before leaving. Few 'scuffles' and generally disgusting behaviour by the uni sa guys (I don't understand this, thought most of the people in these circumstances playing for Uni SA move to Australia to escape all this bs?)

Shoc members didn't do too much to incite and were pretty well contained to be honest; although of course there is always 2 sides to the story; I'm trying to be as impatial as possible.

Shocs members were filming some of the behaviour to hopefully back it up. This didnt go down well with the uni-sa guys but will provide good evidence.

Not sure on the rules on how results go if only a half was played? Dissapointing to have this in a Saturday CSL game; bit OTT really isnt it.

Note: The UniSA b's were an awesome bunch of guys and a credit to the uni sa team; and the game was played in great spirits when I was watching. Shame the A's/supporters didnt follow suit?

[avagoyamug]

The referee called it off at half time with shoc up 2 nil due to unruly behaviour from the Unisa players and supporters towards the ref. Will be very interesting to see how the CSL handle this...

Did anyone in Div2 have issues with Uni sa last year?

[cruie]

Sad to read this.

Games get heated from time to time and bad tackles - or perceived bad tackles - are generally the initial spark. But, I've never met a team of angels - including our own - so I'm not going to chuck any stones (especially having not been at the game to see it).

Guaranteed CSL investigation if the ref reports the game as abandonned because of threatening/violent behaviour, towards himself. I see CSL recorded the score as 2-0, and noted the match as abandonned.

If I were a member of the clubs involved, I'd keep the post count down ... No point dragging it all out in public and making things worse (either way).

Hope everyone came out of it all without any injuries ...



Results
(just to stay "On Topic") ... not a good week for my tipping ...

MERCS - Great result. Puts them right back in it. (I was wrong ... well done Balotelli on that forecast!)
Pembroke - Good home win, but well done the Eagles for running them close. (I was wrong)
Rostrevor - As expected, really. We've had seasons like Pultney are having ... hope they can stick together through it (I was right)
SHOC - I see CSL has awarded 2-0 to SHOC ... Enough said about it above (I was right though )
Grads Red - Title winning form, to score 4 away from home (I was right)

So 3 out of 5 ... Not bad/not good

[Squeezy Cheesey Peas]

Uni SA were a good set of lads last season with no hint of any hassle / trouble....
Stuff happens and let the CSL deal with it (hopefully swiftly and professionally!). Refs are under enough presuure without 'extra's so lets hope this a one off as the CSL has a good record in this respect.

Back on topic though:
Grads Red are the team to beat as we enter the return leg of the season.... If they are winning now, it shows they have depth along with the ability as its sick / suspension time for most clubs at the moment!!
The race has never been closer and its good to have so many in with a shout should ANYONE slip up.
The 2nd relegation slot is also going to be interesting and the gap between 2a and 1a is getting tighter as last years relegated teams will struggle to get out of Div 2 which is a sign of the overall leagues health.

My tips for th title : Grads Red on the last day
Relegation: Pulteney and UniSA with Regency just staying up on home form

[Balotelli]

Grads Red play Mercedes on the last day of the season. If it goes down to the last day as Squeezy Cheesey Peas predicts then you'd expect that at least one if not both of those teams will still be in contention for the title. There's a long way to go, but there could easily be 4 or more teams with a chance of winning the title going into the last 1 or 2 weeks. Great to see.