Ships on verge of minor premiership

OHA can sew up the men’s Premier League minor premiership today with victory over second-placed NorthWest Graduates at 1.30pm.

Both side’s traded 3-0 victories in the opening half of the season, before OHA prevailed in a 6-5 thriller last time out.

The Ships welcome back Sam Keating this weekend and coach Nick Leslie feels his side has the wood over Graduates because of scoring efficiency.

“We have taken plenty of positives away from our last encounters with North-West, in particular our conversion percentages,” Leslie said.

“Defensively we were a little slack during our last game which cost us on the scoreboard, so the aim is to really tighten the screws and be stingy at the back.

“The onus will be on the midfield to be strong on the ball this week.”

North-West Graduates jumped back into the top two with a 5-0 loss to DiamondBacks and coach Stephen McMullen has pitched this match as a “mini-final”.

“Our leaders will be important for us, but for mine, it’s ensuring the younger player step up,” McMullen said.

“OHA’s never-say-die attitude is fantastic, but our improvement is coming from us settling more as a group and playing the style we want to play.”

McMullen was thrown a curve ball with news that star defender Jai Walker-Kidd may be unavailable, but Julian Vittorio is an important inclusion.

University can cement fourth position with victory over DiamondBacks at 3pm, with competition leading goal scorer Ben Read aiming to build on his 20 goals to date.

Derwent has lost a host of stars ahead of a crucial match for its top-two chances against Canterbury at 4.30pm.

Strikers skipper Vaughn Bowen, Angus Boulton, Stuart Webb and Ewan Vickery headline the absentees and opportunities will be aplenty for squad members to push their case for finals action.