Wanaka and Waimak will meet at the Wanaka Recreation Centre at 3:30 pm on Saturday in the 1st Leg of the Southern League Promotion Play-off with the scheduling and weather not helping Wanaka’s cause.     

The Central Otago side played their last game on 31 August, when defeating former Southern League side Green Island 6 – 2 in the final round of the Southern Premier League (SPL) while awaiting to see who they would be facing between Waimak and FC Nelson, inclement weather has meant very limited time in the training pitch in September. 

“It is not the ideal build-up, but we will give it our best”, said assistant coach Ben Sippola. To make matters worse Sippola who is also the club's Director of Football added, “Many of our squad are ‘tradies’ and a couple may be out after suffering injuries on the job”. 

Wanaka finished in second place in the Southern League behind winner Mosgiel, who elected not to contest the play-off series, with Wanaka the largest club in the Central Otago Region with almost 600 players and made the headlines last season when reaching the 16 sixteen of the Chatham Cup, with the run including wins over Southern League sides, Dunedin City Royals and Green Island. 

Waimak showed their fighting form when scoring twice in added time to edge FC Nelson 4 – 3 in the second leg of the Mainland Play-offs, to make it 6 – 6 on aggregate, before winning in penalties after extra time failed to bring any additional goals and will be looking to win on the road again before the second leg at Kendall Park on Sunday 6 October.

Article added: Friday 27 September 2024