Taki Nicolaidis will have to wait until the final weekend in January before Inglewood United commence their 2017 campaign after his team was allocated a bye in the opening round of an expanded Night Series.

This year’s pre-season tournament is a knockout-style event featuring last year’s twelve National Premier Leagues teams plus top flight debutants Joondalup United and Mandurah City, the latter returning from a five year absence.

The knock-out nature of the 2017 Night Series is sure to heighten tensions in every game played across the four-week tournament, which commences 20 January.   The National Premier Leagues website has the full list of 2017 Night Series fixtures.