2022 Zone Premier League thread

[The Hacker]

Congrats to Dudley, always a strong club and a hard place to play.

Our thirds nowhere near good enough, could have been much higher score to be fair, whilst Reserve Grade made a decent account of themselves in what was a good contest. A 15 minute horrorshow in the first half of 1st Grade aside, where we deservedly shipped 4 goals, we were competitive for decent patches, particularly throughout the second half. Not good enough though, Dudley extremely deserving of the points and a steep learning curve for our boys.

You could tell there hadn’t been the normal preseason trials Azzurri were a little more rusty and Dudley punished a few mistakes made. Azzurri will improve so should Dudley.
Reggies both teams will be there abouts for the top 4. Azzurri getting 2 penalties helped them but was an entertaining game.
Saw the first half of 3rds. The Azzurri 3rds keeper was the only reason it wasn’t 10-0 at halftime. After watching the other grades I’m not sure how he’s not their first grade keeper. He would of made 20 plus saves and 10 of them top class. He was the clubs best player all day

Good to have football back

[HAFC_ZL]

You could tell there hadn’t been the normal preseason trials Azzurri were a little more rusty and Dudley punished a few mistakes made. Azzurri will improve so should Dudley.
Reggies both teams will be there abouts for the top 4. Azzurri getting 2 penalties helped them but was an entertaining game.
Saw the first half of 3rds. The Azzurri 3rds keeper was the only reason it wasn’t 10-0 at halftime. After watching the other grades I’m not sure how he’s not their first grade keeper. He would of made 20 plus saves and 10 of them top class. He was the clubs best player all day

Good to have football back

He’s a top, top GK and in previous seasons has been our 1st Grade GK. He’s been injured all pre-season and hadn’t even been able to train yet. He wanted to test the injury in 3rds before pushing up the grades. Was good to see that he pulled through without an issue.

Our first grade keeper had an off day yesterday, though he definitely wasn’t alone in that regard. He also pulled off one absolutely top class save in the second half.

We’ve just signed another GK this week who has good pedigree. Moving forward we should have 4 fit and competitive keepers.

Was great that so many games actually got played over the weekend, has been a tough slog without it.

[The Hacker]

He’s a top, top GK and in previous seasons has been our 1st Grade GK. He’s been injured all pre-season and hadn’t even been able to train yet. He wanted to test the injury in 3rds before pushing up the grades. Was good to see that he pulled through without an issue.

He was outstanding back to 1’s this week for him if he pulled up ok

[Sideline]

Still one of the best keepers running around if it's still who im thinking of

[VelkiKurac]

Still one of the best keepers running around if it's still who im thinking of

Name names

[The Hacker]

Still one of the best keepers running around if it's still who im thinking of

I said he was good. Let’s not go over the top there are few others in first grade in this comp I’d take first

[VelkiKurac]

I said he was good. Let’s not go over the top there are few others in first grade in this comp I’d take first

Give us your top 5 in all Zone?

[Two tone]

I checked out cookers v kotara on Saturday and I must say how good is the field at the athletic track easy the best field in ZPL now
And I drive past Hexham every day for work so sad.

[mge61]

I checked out cookers v kotara on Saturday and I must say how good is the field at the athletic track easy the best field in ZPL now
And I drive past Hexham every day for work so sad.

Wouldn’t imagine too many games being played at Hexham any time soon.

[Two tone]

Wouldn’t imagine too many games being played at Hexham any time soon.

Well the draw says Hamilton v westlakes Saturday at Hexham or have I missed something

[ForeverRed]

Hexhams a train wreck, surely not

[The Hacker]

Give us your top 5 in all Zone?

In no particular order
Blake Redman
Nick Hartnett
Justin Carlier
The keeper at Mayfield his name slips my mind
The Swansea keeper last year not sure he’s still there

That’s just looking at ZPL I’m sure there is one or 2 in ZL1 you could add to the list

[WWFC25]

Well the draw says Hamilton v westlakes Saturday at Hexham or have I missed something

Potentially getting moved to the home of Cats because Hexham is a long way away from being playable.

[The Hacker]

Potentially getting moved to the home of Cats because Hexham is a long way away from being playable.

They need to genuinely find a new ground. If it rained on a Monday the game was washed out last year. Surely there is a ground closer to um Hamilton 🙄

[HAFC_ZL]

They need to genuinely find a new ground. If it rained on a Monday the game was washed out last year. Surely there is a ground closer to um Hamilton 🙄

Do you genuinely think that we haven’t explored every single option that might bring us back closer to Hamilton? We have been working tirelessly with NCC and Newcastle Football over several years but to no avail. Newcastle Football have particularly attempted to assist us wherever possible. We were told last year Smith Park upgrade was moving along with NCC and regarded a priority upgrade, however that has stalled for whatever reason. Regardless it would have been 3+ years till we could return there.

We were training on Hexham from January throughout pre-season and it was honestly in immaculate condition, we were extremely hopeful that would continue until the season. It was in far, far better condition than when we inherited it at the same time last year, would have been one of the better surfaces in the competition. However how can anyone account for the unprecedented amount of rain that the region has received over the last couple of months? No club is more frustrated about its current condition than us.

[Buddha]

In no particular order
Blake Redman
Nick Hartnett
Justin Carlier
The keeper at Mayfield his name slips my mind
The Swansea keeper last year not sure he’s still there

That’s just looking at ZPL I’m sure there is one or 2 in ZL1 you could add to the list

I believe Justin has gone to Melbourne so you would imagine there is a sizeable hole to replace at Suns?

[VelkiKurac]

Do you genuinely think that we haven’t explored every single option that might bring us back closer to Hamilton? We have been working tirelessly with NCC and Newcastle Football over several years but to no avail. Newcastle Football have particularly attempted to assist us wherever possible. We were told last year Smith Park upgrade was moving along with NCC and regarded a priority upgrade, however that has stalled for whatever reason. Regardless it would have been 3+ years till we could return there.

We were training on Hexham from January throughout pre-season and it was honestly in immaculate condition, we were extremely hopeful that would continue until the season. It was in far, far better condition than when we inherited it at the same time last year, would have been one of the better surfaces in the competition. However how can anyone account for the unprecedented amount of rain that the region has received over the last couple of months? No club is more frustrated about its current condition than us.

Nearly all fields need upgrades but NCC don’t care about that.

[HAFC_ZL]

Nearly all fields need upgrades but NCC don’t care about that.

Agreed.

[Sideline]

Name names

Shannon S if it is still him

[Two tone]

Potentially getting moved to the home of Cats because Hexham is a long way away from being playable.

What about the ground at the tech college Islington. It’s been used for zone league in the past.