There are key clashes at both ends of the ladder across the weekend’s NPL Queensland Men’s Round nine action which gets underway on Friday night.
The weekend’s action kicks off at Underwood Park on Friday night with two sides looking to move away from the relegation zone in tenth placed Rochedale hosting eleventh placed Olympic.
Both sides have changed coaches since the start of the season with Rovers buoyed by a 3-1 away win over defending Premiers Lions in interim manager Scott MacNicol’s first match in charge last weekend.
Conversely, Olympic are winless in two in the league under Chris Grossman, however last season’s Grand Finalists will take confidence from their 4-1 Kappa Pro Series win over Rochedale in March.
Saturday’s action is headlined by a clash between defending Premiers Lions and defending Champions Gold Coast Knights at Luxury Paints Stadium.
Knights, who defeated Power 4-1 last weekend climbed above Lions as they slipped out of the top four but will need to be on their game if they’re to get the better of Darren Simes side.
Fourth placed Brisbane City will look to capitalise on any points dropped by Lions or Knights and solidify their position in the top four when they host Redlands United at Imperial Corp Stadium on Saturday night.
City have scored a league best 21 goals under Karl Dodd this season heading into Saturday’s match against newly promoted Redlands, who moved to within four points of fourth placed City with a 3-0 midweek win over Sunshine Coast Wanderers.
Elsewhere, second placed Moreton Bay face sixth placed Young Roar at Wolter Park on Saturday night.
The Jets will look to continue their perfect home record having won four from four at Wolter Park this season against a Young Roar side who are quickly climbing the table after winning three of their last four.
Young Roar have been boosted by the addition of 23-year-old forward Kur Kur, who scored on debut in last weekend’s win over Easts.
The South Sudanese international starred in NPL SA for Adelaide City before getting a move to top-flight Serbian side Novi Pazaar last season.
In Saturday’s other match two sides seeking a change in fortunes go head-to-head when bottom placed Power travel to face Eastern Suburbs at Heath Park.
Power announced they’d mutually parted ways with Head Coach Rick Coghlan following last weekend’s 4-1 home defeat to Gold Coast Knights with Football Director Ben Ryan taking charge of the side on an interim basis while they search for a replacement.
Meanwhile Easts, who have the league’s leakiest defence have lost four of their last five including a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Young Roar last weekend which is the biggest margin of victory in the league this season.
In Sunday’s only match league leaders Gold Coast United host Sunshine Coast Wanderers at Coplicks.
United, who have conceded just twice in the league this season with both goals being penalties have won their last five straight.
Wanderers meanwhile seek a return to form after losing their last three straight including a 3-0 home defeat midweek against Redlands.
You can catch every minute of the weekend’s NPL Queensland Men’s action live and free on FQTV or the Football Queensland YouTube channel.
