GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic have gone from their derby rivalry last week with Big Orange Wanganui City straight into their biggest Lotto Federation League rivalry up in Taranaki this afternoon.
Buoyed by last week's 5-2 win in the Wembley Park tussle, Athletic hit the road for what has become the longest trip of the competition to meet a new-look New Plymouth Rangers at Merrilands Domain.
Last year's games between the sides were classics, ultimately splitting their matches 2-2, with Athletic somewhat able to claim superiority in league play as they won two matches to one, including a 5-0 hammering in the final meeting in August.
Rangers won the first season match-up 2-1 on their home ground, then were reinforced by Team Taranaki players for a 4-3 victory after extra time in the Chatham Cup opening round at Wembley, with Athletic getting a measure of revenge with a 5-4 win in June.
Those first three matches were played almost to a formula – Rangers would take advantage of Athletic's notoriously slow starts with a couple of goals, before the Whanganui club would come back at them, with the winner then decided in the final minutes.
It could be said that despite Athletic's fired up demolition of the New Plymouth side in their last game, the Taranaki lads still had the last laugh because that match really was the peak of Athletic's season – they surprisingly dropped their last two games to finish third overall behind Rangers on the table.
"We bottled that ourselves, can't really blame them," coach Jason King said.
"It's got a bit more spice [in 2018] because they've got Team Taranaki players now, about three of them."
Rangers are a fresh-looking outfit under new coach Mal Bourgoise, with a handful of players coming back from the defunct Central League team, while 2017's top goal scorer Sam De St Croix (19) has departed.
New Plymouth has experienced downpours, storms and a tornado in the past three days, so King will be interested in the state of Merrilands Domain when they arrive – likely to be a slow, muddy pitch.
The mud always encourages more aggressive diving challenges on defence, which could add another element to the fixture which Central Football has named the feature match of the round.
"These games have got more and more intense and exciting," said King.
"They play hard, but in the right spirit."
Athletic will go with a new-look bench, as Josh Parker aggravated his hamstring last week, while Josh Smith, the former Team Taranaki teammate of several Rangers, is attending a wedding.
Ross Kinnerley earns a promotion from the GJ Gardner Homes Athletic Reserves, along with Logan Hughes getting a recall, while Jordan Candish is back after previous work commitments.
City have had a lot of reflection on their three-goal loss in their return to the Federation League – all 90 minutes, plus injury time, in fact.
With weather conditions dodgy for outdoor training this week, coach Kelvin Francis got the team to review the whole match, having filmed it.
They hope to rectify some of the issues when North End AFC come to Wembley Park this afternoon on the back of a 2-1 win over Massey.
"[There were] key times in the game when we should have done things that would have nullified their attack," Francis said.
"We did let them out and it's disappointing. If it continues to happen, that's a problem."
For the second week in a row, Francis finds himself coaching against a player who was a City teammate, as Zane Robinson has split his club career between North End and City, coming back to the Federation League "for one big last hurrah".
"North End haven't been at Federation level for a couple of seasons but they've put back together a team that played when I was playing," Francis said.
Key among those will be Nathan Cooksley in the midfield, who has plenty of Central League experience with Palmerston North Marist and Wairarapa United.
"We just need to do our job and not worry about them," Francis said.
The team will be without James Barnes this week after he was carded against Athletic, and while Josh Jonas is a more than adequate replacement to start the game, City will be a little light on the bench, with Francis searching for a second reserve last night.
Both City and Athletic are aware of the looming presence of Palmerston North Marist, who are back from the Central League and wasted no time signalling their intentions with a 7-2 hammering of Hokowhitu FC, the 2017 Horizions Premiership winners who, like City, have come up a grade.
In the current Premiership, the GJ Gardner Homes Wanganui Athletic Reserves lost 3-2 away to Palmerston North Boys' High School last Saturday, and now have their first home game with Levin AFC today.
That game and the Federation League matches kick off at 2.45pm.
For tomorrow's GR Engineering Women's Federation round, the Football Whanganui team have their first home game against Bluewater Hotel Taradale AFC, kickoff 1pm.