Untamed Taranaki side caused furrowed brows
and it was quite positive, too,” said Bell.
The team will miss talented teenager Jack Donaldson, who would have had his first start today after impressing off the bench in his first few outings, but is away making plans for his post-secondary school path.
Meanwhile, Athletic coach Jason King is also calling up players from his GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic Reserves team as he goes without five regulars to face the wild Rangers from the north tomorrow.
The Athletic vs Rangers rivalry has been keenly contested in recent seasons, but seemed like it would be a little quiet this year as Athletic (3-2-3) were playing themselves into some form while Rangers (1-1-6) had dropped off the pace.
That was until last week, with King taking note of the Taranaki team’s willingness to live by the sword and die by it, as they never stopped attacking against City, even when up 6-4 in the last 10 minutes.
‘That’s a philosophy that I actually quite admire,” said King.
“Football’s a simple game – if we score one more goal than them, we win.
“You certainly don’t die wondering.” While King is pleased to have Matt Calvert and Scott Burney, who as coaches of the Team Ritesh Football Whanganui team were successful in getting their Women’s Federation League game moved back to Thursday, he is resting several other players with niggles.
Athletic will miss the likes of Ryan Holden, Will King and James Satherley, all goal scorers in the 4-2 win over Palmerston North Boys High, along with Peter Czerwonka.
King said most of them would have been 50-50 for the away match, but with Palmerston North Marist (6-0-2) looming on the horizon, he thought it best for them to rest, using keen young players from the Reserves, given Rangers seem likely to play a wide-open style anyway.
Rangers have well outscored Athletic this season — 20 League goals compared to 12 – yet they have conceded a whopping 31, compared to 13 from Athletic, who have tried to keep to their systems even when key figures are unavailable.
The matches are 2.45pm kickoffs on both days.
In the Horizons Premiership, the Athletic Reserves (1-0-6) have a tough match this afternoon against the table leaders Levin AFC (5-2-0) at Wembley Park, kickoff 12.30pm.