Two-game bans for scuffle in NPLM NNSW

Hay and Montefiore were shown straight red cards in the 21^st minute of the 1-1 draw at Jack McLaughlan Oval on Sunday. Both lashed out after tempers flared in a battle for possession.

Their acts were classified under the violent conduct section of regulations determining minimum mandatory suspensions, earning the automatic one-match ban plus an additional game.

The red cards were among five handed out over round 21 as the fight for the NPLM Northern NSW premiership and finals places intensified. The top eight sides are battling for five spots in the finals and the premiership comes down effectively to a race in four.

Azzurri's Taylor Regan copped two yellow cards in Charlestown's 2-0 loss to Broadmeadow and will sit out one game, while Valentine's Joey Cacic and Cooks Hill defender Pat Bond earned second bookings in the final minutes of Phoenix's 3-2 loss.

Seventh-placed Valentine (25 points), two points off the top five, travel to Weston (23) on Sunday. They get Matt Thompson back but have Cacic, Nick Cowburn and Nicholas Martinelli suspended.

Jaffas, third and in a three-way tie on 33 points, are away to fifth-placed Newcastle Olympic (27) on Sunday before games against Adamstown (8), Charlestown (33) and Maitland (33).

Leaders Broadmeadow (35) host second-placed Maitland on Saturday and bottom side Lake Macquarie (7) welcome Cooks Hill (15) on Sunday in other catch-up matches this weekend.

Edgeworth (26), a point outside the five, don't play this weekend. They have games against Cooks Hill, Maitland and Valentine to go.

Eagles coach Peter McGuinness said young striker Archie Finn and Jackson Pereira have ankle injuries but he expected the latter to be back for the Cooks Hill match on August 20.

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