New faces on and off pitch as City seek formula
Another exciting long weekend of football awaits with Evolution Painting & Decorating Wanganui City travelling to Palmerston North Boys' High in their Lotto Federation League fixture at 2.30pm.
Meanwhile the Western Premiership sees its fixtures moved to Monday, with the Wanganui City Reserves hosting the Levin AFC 1sts at 12.30pm at Wembley Park and the Wanganui City Renovators travelling to the Linton Army Camp to take on Linton 1sts.
Devon Homes Wanganui Athletic will also be at home on Monday, as they look to progress through the first rounds of the Federation Cup knockout tournament at 2pm against Moturoa AFC on No1 ground.
With Anzac Day upon us, Wanganui City will be searching for the same fighting spirit as they look to rebound from a couple of losses on the trot against Palmerston Boys' High today.
Coach Kelvin Francis won't be on the sideline, handing the reins over to manager Bryan Mackie, who is rumoured to be promoting a couple of youth players into the first team for this game to continue the development of City's footballing depth.
Last season, Boys' High provided solid competition for Athletic when they came up against them. However, City will need to overcome the mental game first before they can win the battle on the pitch - having performed well in their last two matches yet falling short at the final whistle.
City will need to make the most of any opportunities and convert the chances that present themselves, rather than letting them sail past the wrong sides of the posts.
This should be a trying game for City, and hopefully the cobwebs of waking up early for the dawn parade will not affect their performance. I'm picking a 2-0 to City.
Wanganui Athletic enjoy a break today, but will need to prepare for a do-or-die fixture on Wembley's main ground at 12.30pm on Monday against Moturoa.
With the Federation Cup being a knockout tournament, the Reds will need to play out of their skins for the full 90 minutes if they want to avoid their journey being cut short at the first hurdle.
Athletic should be bolstered by the presence of both of their English imports, with their imported goalkeeper duelast Wednesday.
Having some experience at the back should do well for the Reds, as a good goalkeeper can be worth a bag-full of points to a team.
I'm picking this one to go to extra time, but Athletic to prevail in the added time, 1-0.
The Wanganui City Reserves will also be looking to bounce back from a couple of losses when they host the Levin AFC 1sts on Wembley's No2 ground at 12.30pm on Monday.
The previous week, Levin put three goals past the young Renovators development team, so will surely be looking to collect another City scalp this weekend.
Reserves coach Karl Hayward will not be wanting his team to give it up too easily and should be demanding a much better performance than was put on show last week, where gifted opportunities were wasted and possession not treasured.
But Hayward has the ability to command the minds of his team, having led City through to Federation League honours just a few seasons ago, and will surely force a change in attitude in the Reserves that should see them come out victorious on the day.
My pick is for the Reserves to bounce back and walk away 1-0 victors.
To round out the Monday football for the long weekend, the Wanganui City Renovators will go up against what will surely be a spirited Linton 1sts on their home ground at the army camp.
I'm sure many teams will not have wanted to be drawn against Linton on such a historic and meaningful weekend in the military's calendar, but Tex von Kwiatowski's youthful side will be putting that aside and surely looking for another three points to add to their tally.
Going down 3-1 to Levin last weekend will be fresh in their minds, but with their patient possession-based game, they could quickly control he match and dictate proceedings.
I think this could be a close match, and the Renovators may struggle against a side whose mentality will be steeled by the occasion of the weekend.
I'm picking a 2-2 draw for this one.
Again, plenty of football this weekend, and with the men's and women's local leagues both competing today as well.