Based on the scores from two prior years, this will be a walkover for Dukes; based on the scores from this year however, it might not be so easy, as Ljubljana has already shown to the Gladiators they’re not the same team from last year.
After the overtime loss at home against the Gladiators, the Ljubljana Silverhawks travel to Novi Sad, where they have lost convincingly, and then some, in 2007 and 2006. Last year it was 38-0 and the year before it was 56-0, but looking at the same scores one will find similarly convincing defeats at the hand of the Austrian Gladiators. Yet, they were an overtime away from being 2-0 in the standings, what would’ve been their best CEFL start thus far.
Their opponent has played just one game, but for the most part, they’ve picked up where they left off a year ago — when they started 4-0 — with a big win against the Budapest Cowboys. It’s not a secret that their plan is to go all the way this year, so a win against the Silverhawks shouldn’t come in question.
“The defense worked really well at that game, that’s the reason the score was the way it is; we intercepted two passes; we feel as though the score could’ve been even greater, and we played with some of our backups for most of the second half”, says Dragan Kanura, Novi Sad’s defensive coach and acting head coach for a few more weeks.
Dukes also played two games in the Serbian league, struggling somewhat in the last game that they played.
“[The start of the season is] Not what we expected. We didn’t play the best way we can, we didn’t have enough time to get everything on the right level, because of little practice time.“
As always, the big question is with how many players the Silverhawks will come to Novi Sad. Their one win was an away game, but against Zagreb, who are just not good enough yet.
“We’re surprised with their score against the Austrians and we would like for them to come with all of their players, to see how good they really are, and that our home field isn’t such an advantage.”
Unlike the previous two seasons, Dukes won’t be playing at FK Kabel stadium in Novi Sad anymore; for now they’ll play their games at FK Slavija stadium .The game is scheduled for 4PM on Saturday.