Australia Cup: Edgeworth take 'grand final' shot at Western United

The Eagles meet the 2022 A-League champions in the round of 32 at Jack McLaughlan Oval, four days after the hosts' NPL Northern NSW finals chances ended with a 1-1 draw against Adamstown in the penultimate round. They sit sixth on 35 points, four behind fifth-placed Weston, with a game against Charlestown on Sunday remaining.

Wednesday night's game will be the second time Curran has played A-League opposition in the cup, after featuring for Newcastle Olympic in 2021 in a 3-0 loss to Macarthur at No.2 Sportsground.

He expected Edgeworth to take a more attacking mindset for their assignment, especially after Saturday's disappointment.

"[The game in 2021] was a great experience so I'm looking forward to doing it again," Curran said.

"It's a cup match, anything can happen and the boys are feeling good and confident.

"Against Macarthur [Olympic] did all right but we tried to hold off too much and tried not to lose five or six nil, but I don't think that's how it will work tomorrow.

"We'll go out there and give it a crack and try to hold our own. Not try to sit off and not lose massively.

"The back half of the season hasn't really gone to plan, but because finals are out now, this is basically our grand final so we're going to put everything into it and see what happens."

Western United have Thurgate and another former Jets star, Brazilian Daniel Penha, among their recruits since missing the A-League finals this year.

Curran, who is in his third year of a civil engineering degree, played in midfield alongside Thurgate in Jets academy teams and he was keen to match up against him on Wednesday night.

"We're the same age and I was in the academy with him for a while, then he burst onto the scenes earlier than everyone else," he said.

"When we were in 18s, he was in the youth team, then when we were in the youth team, he was in the first team, so he was always someone there who you could talk to who was in the step above you.

"He's definitely done well and it's a shame the Jets couldn't keep him.

"There were rumours he was injured but I saw photos of him playing in the friendly against Melbourne City so I'm hoping he plays. It's been a while since I shared a pitch with him, so I'm looking forward to sharing one with him hopefully again."

Edgeworth coach Peter McGuinness said Sascha Montefiore (knee) and Curran's brother, Nick (illness), were out, but Andrew Pawiak (ankle) was expected to return after missing Saturday's draw. Dylan Holz (hamstring) was in doubt.

** Edgeworth's oldest surviving life member, former president Thomas Brown, will have the honour of doing the coin toss for Wednesday night's game.

Brown, who is 91 next month, served as Eagles president for 30 years after first becoming involved at the club as coach of his son Wayne's junior teams.

Brown's daughter, Pauline Bowles, said her father was still a regular at Edgeworth games and was "quite excited" about the club's invitation.

** Still on the Eagles, and respected veteran coach Bobby Naumov has joined the club as an assistant to McGuinness.

McGuinness, who has doubled as Edgeworth's technical director this year, said he asked Naumov recently to come on board, with a view to him staying involved again next season.

** Lambton Jaffas beat out rival clubs to sign Manly United captain Jimmy Oates for next season.

Jaffas announced the recruitment of the 32-year-old defender on Tuesday.

Oates moved to Newcastle this year and is finishing a second stint, which began in 2020, at Manly in the NSW NPL.

In between those stints, the former Central Coast Youth skipper played in England with Hereford and Exeter City.

A handful of local NPL clubs were believed to be chasing Oates, who is friends with former Manly teammate and ex-Jaffas keeper Brad Swancott.

Jaffas coach David Tanchevski said Oates would give his side depth in defence and midfield.

** Sunday's NPL washout between Lake Macquarie and Valentine will be held on Wednesday night (8.15) at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility.

Charlestown and Broadmeadow were playing their round 21 match at Lisle Carr Oval on Tuesday night (8pm).

NPL TABLE: Jaffas 43, Charlestown 41, Maitland 40, Broadmeadow 39, Weston 39, Edgeworth 35, Olympic 33, Cooks Hill 29, Valentine 22, Adamstown 16, New Lambton 9, Lake Macquarie 4.

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