Pig'N'Whistle Canale Cup Semi-Final Preview
It’s the second semi-final this evening with the winners set to play newly crowned Flight Centre Premier League Champions Rochedale Rovers this coming Saturday in the Final.
Peninsula Power (FCPL) v Albany Creek (FCPL) 7.15pm - Tue 22 Aug at AJ Kelly Park. It’s crunch time for Albany Creek. They narrowly missed out on making it into the top four of the Flight Centre Premier League by just 2 goals goal difference and finishing 5th behind Mitchelton, leaving the Pig ’N’ Whistle Canale Cup as their final avenue for silverware in 2017. Creek are a tricky side to assess and are more than capable of matching it toe to toe with Peninsula Power. Their last meeting a little over a month ago ended in a 1-1 draw whilst Power narrowly defeated Creek 1-0 at AJ Kelly Park in RD7 of the Flight Centre Premier League. Creek’s route to this stage has come with convincing wins over Caboolture (4-0) in RD5 and Eastern Suburbs (4-1) in the quarter final. This game offers a far greater challenge but Pouria Nabi’s side will certainly throw everything they have at this semi-final. Power finished runners-up in the Flight Centre Premier League and will have the finals series to look forward to. A hectic schedule recently could however play its part in this tie for the hosts, but the carrot of a cup final dangling before their noses will be plenty enough of an enticement for them to go into this game at 100%. Power of course reached the national Round of 32 of the Westfield FFA Cup where they were knocked out by Hyundai A-League giants Mebourne City. Their Pig “N’ Whistle Canale Cup campaign began at the same time as tonight’s opponents in RD5 where they saw off Capalaba in a 3-1 win before just edging past a valiant Southside Eagles in the quarter final with a 2-1 success, courtesy of a Charles Mendy strike in the 90th minute. This game will be tight and could very well require extra time and even penalties to find a winner. The longer the game goes on and remains close, the more likely Albany Creek can steal it and look forward to one last game in 2017. Prediction: Creek have nothing to lose. It’s end of season for them should they lose at AJ Kelly Park and based on that theory, they’ll prevail in a 2-1 success.
