Growing Ipswich club hosting important football match

Hosting their first local derby against the Ipswich City Bulls will be another Ripley Valley milestone in the growing club’s development.

HOSTING their first local derby against the Ipswich City Bulls will be another Ripley Valley milestone in the growing club’s development.

However, the Ripley Valley footballers will be on high alert when the Ipswich clubs clash at Ironbark Park on Friday night.

The Bulls surprised Ripley 3-1 in the opening Capital League 1 local derby at Sutton Park on April 16.

Ripley Valley FC head coach Nick Paterson knows how much that loss hurt his team, especially with it being the Bulls’ first win of the season and his side pushing for a top four spot.

“We were bitterly disappointed after the first round but it definitely won’t be an easy game (on Friday night),’’ Paterson said.

“Whether we underestimated them, whether we didn’t turn up, whatever it may be . . . they (the Bulls) have still got players with NPL (National Premier Leagues) experience within that squad.

“They are going to turn up to play a derby like they did in the first round.

“We are going to have to match them with enthusiasm and the physicality and be prepared for the onslaught.’’

Ripley prepares for the match fresh from a 3-0 victory over Annerley at Elder Oval.

Tom Webster, Jarrod Norfolk and Luka Kljajic kept Ripley’s goal scoring tally ticking over.

“It definitely helps having boys back on the park with their quality,’’ the coach said.

“Even though we weren’t playing well at times, we did enough to get the result, which was great.’’

The Bulls head to the South Ripley field having lost their latest clash 4-0 to Moggill at Sutton Park.

Paterson is encouraged after an earlier injury toll eased.

“We’ve got plenty of guys fit and available so we should put a pretty strong side out at the weekend,’’ Paterson said.

“That’s something we sort of haven’t had - we’ve been bare 11 in both grades.’’

The Bulls are at the bottom of the CL1 table with two wins from 11 games.

However, that is when the Bulls can be most dangerous, as Paterson’s sixth-placed team is fully aware.

Ripley Valley are chasing a sixth win of season to go with two draws and four losses.

Paterson is still eager to see his team press for finals football after opening the second round with consecutive wins.

“We’ve still got aspirations to make the top four now that we’ve got the boys back on deck,’’ he said.

“When the players are fighting fit, I think we can go on a good run in the second round.

“We’ve been scoring a few and keeping some clean sheets.

“Definitely finals football is the ambition now.’’

The main game on Friday night kicks off at 8.30pm after the Reserves clash at 6.30pm.

With no other major regional games on Friday night, Paterson hopes the game lives up to local derby traditions attracting a big crowd to Ironbark Park.

Originally published as Growing Ipswich club hosting important football match