CSU will go into the Bathurst Football Association men’s first grade finals on the back of an underwhelming result in their final regular season game, though it doesn’t bother their captain-coach Ben Ballantine.

The students faced Lithgow in their last match before the finals series and Lithgow were strong enough to earn a 1-0 win in the contest, which was staged on Saturday.

In a scrappy game that had little if anything riding on it given that CSU were safe in first and Lithgow couldn’t finish anywhere other than fourth, a second half goal from a corner was the only score of the match.

But Ballantine knows there are bigger challenges ahead as his team prepares to face Bathurst ’75 in this Sunday’s major semi-final where a grand final and a week off is the reward for the victor.

“We’d wrapped up the minor premiership and were a bit understrength, Lithgow were fourth regardless of the outcome, so it was a pretty flat game all round,” Ballantine said.

“We actually had a couple of guys come up from third grade in Matt Cleary and Lewis Hudson, who did a fantastic job for us in the midfield and up forward.

“The goal came from a bit of a lack of defence at a corner, we left a man unmarked and it was basically the only clear chance of the entire game.

“Now we face ’75 who have been really evenly matched with us this season. We’ve had a win, a loss, a draw and a wash-out, so it has been very close between us.”

The students will be boosted for the clash by the fact that Western NSW Mariners FC stars John Henry and Chris New-Tolley have both finished their commitments to the representative club.

On the flip side, ’75 can say the same about Ricky Guihot.

Ballantine has already outlined what his side needs to do to contain ’75, while he said that he has seen enough from Lithgow to suggest that they may be able to defeat City Colts in the minor semi-final and prolong their season.

Colts themselves were held to a 2-all draw by Abercrombie FC in their final game of the regular season on Sunday.

“I think ’75 rely a lot on Jacob Soetens in attack, we have to try to mark him as closely as possible and limit his opportunities, force them to look for another way to goal,” Ballantine said.

“In the other match, I think Lithgow have been a bit unfortunate with wash-outs and have played less games than everyone else and may have finished higher if they got those games in.

“They’ve been a bit of a bogey side for Colts, who have just fallen away a bit over the last month. 

“We beat them 4-0 with nine players for most of the game, so they’ll need to lift to get through that game.”

LITHGOW 1 defeated CSU 0

CITY COLTS 2 drew with ABERCROMBIE FC 2