Reds should be able to take the points in Palmy
With a tumultuous off-season buried in the past, both Devon Homes Wanganui Athletic and Wanganui City are starting to settle into a positive rhythm as they travel to Palmerston North and Hawera respectively this weekend.
Meanwhile, last year's dominant Wanganui Athletic women are struggling to find some form as they travel to the capital in a chance to reboot their season.
Athletic AFC threw away two Lotto Federation League competition points last weekend after dominating the first half of play against Havelock North.
A missed penalty opportunity and a resurgent display by the visitors, who scored two goals within 10 minutes, meant Athletic had to settle for shared honours at the final whistle and rue their loss of focus at key points in the match.
The early exit by only-just arrived coach Bryan Mackie, for personal reasons, resulted in a core group of four senior players stepping up into player-coach roles and could have spelt disaster for Athletic in their foray back into the top flight completion in the Central Football league.
However, with a team that features players who have jumped the fence from last season's Wanganui City Federation League team, plus a couple of quality English imports and a good solid base of players returning from 2013's Western Premiership squad, Athletic are playing an attractive brand of football.
They look like they have the goods to go all the way this season.
This weekend, the Reds travel to Skoglund Park in Palmerston North to take on a youthful Palmerston North Boys' High and will be looking to bank three points to return their season to an even keel.
The game promises to be open and attacking, as PNBHS have had mixed results in their first two rounds, thumping Feilding 6-0 away and withering to a 5-1 defeat to North End last week at home.
Meanwhile, Wanganui City have the weekend off in the Western Premiership, as they travel to Hawera's Turuturu Park in their knockout Federation Cup tie against the Hawera men's team on Monday.
With the Federation Cup being a knockout tournament, City coach Kelvin Francis will be looking for his youthful squad to repeat last week's effort to progress to the next round.
City put on a 10-0 football lesson at home against this season's whipping boys, Red Socks Rovers, who suffered an 8-0 hammering previous weekend.
So with expectations high, Francis will be hoping that their positive style of play translates into a ticket to the next round.
After soaring to massive highs last season and earning promotion into the coveted Central League competition, the Wanganui Athletic women's team are struggling to find any form in a competition which is proving to be more of a challenge than they had expected.
The new-look Athletic ladies, who have replaced last season's coach Dave Downs with the highly experienced Shane Wye, have fallen to two defeats in the opening rounds.
Away to Lower Hutt FC this Sunday, Athletic will be looking to draw a line in the sand and start their season from here.
With Lower Hutt hurting from two losses as well so far, this promises to be a tough fixture for both teams involved.