South Adelaide v White City
South Australia National Premier League Round 19

When: Saturday, June 28th. Kick-off 3pm
Where: O'Sullivans Beach Sports Complex, Galloway Road, O'SULLIVANS BEACH

Teams:

South Adelaide: A. Bartlett, J. Canny, H. Gepp, M. Goode, S. Hoyle, M. Kolar, J. Moore, R. Parker, J. Quaynor, C. Reed, J. Rideout, H. Robbins, D. Stavrakis

White City: J. Abadia, J. Atkinson, C. Bugeja, J. Crescitelli, S. Gluscevic, M. Keens, N. Micic, N. Mileusnic, J. Negrean, M. Petkovic, D. Radojicic, A. Rastovac, S. Semiz, A. Simic

Form:

South Adelaide: L D L

Round 16: South Adelaide 2-4 West Adelaide, O’Sullivans Beach Sports Complex
Round 17: Adelaide Blue Eagles 1-1 South Adelaide, Marden Sports Complex
Round 18: Adelaide City 3-0 South Adelaide, Adelaide City Park

White City: W W L

Round 16: White City 5-3 Campbelltown City, Frank Mitchell Park
Round 17: West Adelaide 1-2 White City, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 18: Adelaide Blue Eagles 5-2 White City, Marden Sports Complex

Preview:

South Adelaide and White City both come into their Round 19 clash at O’Sullivans Beach Sports Complex off the back of heavy losses, making the three points even more crucial for the two teams.

South Adelaide lost 3-0 at the hands of Adelaide City in Round 18, while White City surrendered a one-goal lead to lose 5-2 against Adelaide Blue Eagles.

Now without a win since their 4-0 demolition of Campbelltown City in Round 15, South Adelaide have slipped into 11th position, just six points out of the relegation zone.

South Adelaide captain Christopher Reed said it is important for his side to start well against White City.

“To bounce back this week we’ll obviously look to start well and not concede early like we did against Adelaide City,” Reed said.

“During this season, we’ve generally responded well from a poor result or poor performance, so hopefully that continues this week.

“We go into all games confident. On our day, we can mix it with anyone in this league, which we’ve proven a couple of times this season.

“As long as we rock up and we’re ready to put in a shift, we’re confident on getting the three points at home.”

Reed feels as though there has been a sense of positivity around the club in the lead up to Saturday’s match.

“We had a bit of a lighter session on Monday night due to the weather, but we trained Tuesday and Thursday as we normally do.

“We had a solid week on the track and there’s good vibes around the club this week, as everyone is looking to get three points this weekend.”

After crucial wins against Campbelltown City and West Adelaide, White City’s patch of positive results ended against Blue Eagles, leaving them in eighth place – seven points out of finals contention.

White City coach Robbie Saraceno said his players will aim to bounce back immediately after last week’s loss.

“It was a weird game last week. I didn’t actually think we played too bad for most of the game against Blue Eagles, but obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted,” Saraceno said.

“The team has trained well this week; they just want to get out there and play and hopefully bounce back from the loss from last week.

“We’ve got a couple of guys missing, but some young players have stepped up and we’ve had a good week on the training tracks. Hopefully we go there and get the result and keep ourselves around the top six.”

When these two sides met in Round 6, South Adelaide clinched a 1-0 win, and Saraceno believes his players must be ready for another tough match on Saturday.

“We know that South Adelaide is going to be a pretty tough game, especially up there, they’ve got a pretty good home record. We know that they’re going to be a team that works pretty hard for a result.

“We have to make sure we are ready to play against them. Last time, it probably wasn’t the best performance after a good win against Blue Eagles the week before.”