Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Southern Derby Part III: Wilmington @ Charleston

On Thursday night the Wilmington Hammerheads will come to Charleston for the Battery's third match in the Southern Derby. Here's your preview:

Wilmington Hammerheads:
This Season: The Hammerheads currently sit 4th in the American Division table after two straight wins against the quickly falling Antigua Barracuda FC last week. The Hammerheads are just a point behind the Battery, and have three games in hand.
Who's Playing Big: Both Luke Mulholland and Chris Banks lead the team in goals with 5 each, and they also both have 2 assists a piece. Banks will not be available for this match after receiving a red card in his last match. The Hammerheads have had 12 different players score during this USL Pro season.
Who Needs to Step Up: The Hammerheads have given up multiple goals in 5 out of the last 6 matches, so I'll go ahead and say that new GK Kyle Polak will need to step up and keep more out of the net if the Hammerheads want to win this match.

What to Expect:
Starting XI:
Dykstra
Marples Falvey Wilson Zaher
Peverley Paterson Caskey Armstrong
Kelly Coleman

Dykstra should once again get the start in goal, as he hasn't given up a goal in the last 2 matches. And the back four should also stay the same as the last few matches.

In the midfield I give you what I think is our best four at the moment. Peverley hasn't gotten a start in a while, and the reason for that is beyond my knowledge. Paterson is obviously one of the best players on the team, if not the best. Caskey has started the last few matches, and is in good form. Not to mention the great headed goal he had against City. And finally, when Stephen Armstrong is in the game, the Battery click on all levels and fire on all cylinders. Call him a leader, call him a game- changer, I just call him the man.

Alright let me make something clear: Dane Kelly and Seedy Bah do not play well together. I have absolutely no explanation for this, but Kelly and Bah just don't seem to click together even though I feel like they should. So play Coleman up front and solve this problem.

The game will be broadcast on USL Live at 7:30 on Thursday night. Its "Thirsty Thursday" at Blackbaud Stadium, so $2 Miller Lite Drafts all night.

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2 comments:

  1. Kevin Jackson is a better midfielder than Stephen who seems to want to go anywhere on the field but where he should be causing the back row to work harder
    The back four all do well so if you give props to the middle two also include the outside two who also work extremely hard
    Right or wrong the decision on who starts the game is Augies choice

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  2. Stephen does tend to drift a bit, I'll give you that. But overall I think he has a big impact, and doesn't hang the back out to dry very much.

    And I'm pretty sure that I did give credit to the whole back four if you read the article again.

    And the third part of your comment is 100% true.

    Thanks for reading!

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