Campbelltown City v South Adelaide
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Round 26

When: Saturday, August 15^th. Kick-off 3:00pm
Where: Steve Woodcock Sports Centre, Stradbroke Road, Campbelltown

Form:

Campbelltown City: L L W

Round 23: Raiders 3 Campbelltown City 1, Croatian Sports Centre
Round 24: Campbelltown City 0 Adelaide City 4, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Round 25: Campbelltown City 1 White City 0, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre

South Adelaide: W D W

Round 23: South Adelaide 1 Modbury Jets 0, O’Sullivan Beach Sports Complex
Round 24: Croydon Kings 1 South Adelaide 1, Polonia Reserve
Round 25: South Adelaide 1 Adelaide Comets 0, O’Sullivan Beach Sports Complex

Preview:

Campbelltown City and South Adelaide will clash at Steve Woodcock Spots Centre in what promises to be one of the games of the season in Round 26 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia.

South Adelaide are on a remarkable stretch and haven’t suffered a defeat in 7 games. It’s a stark contrast to its form earlier in the year. Panthers’ Coach Danny Graystone talked about what brought about this stunning switch in form.

“Obviously we’ve had a big change in personnel since the start of the year, I think we have about 3 players remaining in the starting 11 who started the first game. We recognised that in the first 5 or 6 games and made a big play to change things around and now we’ve got the balance of the side correct.”

That change also brought a change in the Panthers’ style of play and it has reaped plenty of rewards.

“I think we definitely made a decision about 8 or 9 weeks ago that if we we’re going to go out of the league we’re going to go down the way we want to play. We play a high pressing game which has been getting us some really good results. One good result against West Adelaide gave us confidence in ourselves and the system.”

A draw would ensure the Panthers avoid any relegation threat but Graystone made it clear there was only one thing on his side’s mind.

“We’re going to Campbelltown to win the game, there’s no doubt about that. Last year we beat them at their place 4-0 so I’m sure there keen to rectify that.”

“I’ve had a chat with the boys in the week and we want to finish on a high.”

The hosts Campbelltown City have endured an interesting stretch coming into this week. It has won 3 out of its last 5 games. That’s included a defeat of West Torrens Birkalla and a loss to Raiders.

Current league leading goal scorer Michael Matricciani said his side is eager to get out on the park.

“This week we’ve been training well and we’re really looking forward to this final game before finals and everything is momentum going into finals.”

Matricciani was well aware of the threat the Panthers bring.

“Yeah of course. The lower sides are really fighting off relegation. South Adelaide are basically safe so they should be playing quite freely on the weekend and we’re looking for the three points to try and bring that momentum into finals so it should be an open and quite a good game.”

He also said his side has plenty of weapons to match it with the in form Panthers.

“They’re a physical side, we played them earlier in the year and we scraped a 3-2 win. For us, we’re just focused on what we need to do as a team and we know if we play at our best we’re very hard to stop.”

Matricciani was also asked about the potential of being crowned the league leading goal scorer.

“It’s always very nice, as a striker you want to score as many goals as possible and at the moment I’m one clear but it’s a team sport and you’re only as good as the service you get from your team mates. It’d be nice to win but at the end of the day we’re preparing for finals.”

Article by Matthew Carcich - @Matt_Carcich