South Adelaide v Croydon Kings
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia, Round 8

When: 3:00 PM; Saturday, April 23^rd
Where: O'Sullivans Beach Sports and Community Centre; Galloway Road, O'Sullivans Beach

Teams:

South Adelaide: Marijan Kolar, 1. Addison Rodgers (GK), 3. Christopher Reed (C), 4. Robert Parker, 5. Adam Horner, 6. Brayden Micallef, 7. Connor Hunt, 8. Sam Carmichael, 9. Philip Rideout, 10. Jonathon Rideout, 12. Mitchell Sumnall, 13. Daniel Varma, 14. Dylan Torr, 15. Jamie Recchia, 16. Daniel Sullivan

Croydon Kings: Aladin Irabona, 1. Nicholas Munro (GK), 5. James Skeffington, 6. Nathan Farrell, 7. Shaun Mcgreevy, 8. Rocco Visconte, 9. Elvis Kamsoba, 10. Luke Klimek (C), 11. Peter Mercurio, 12. Frank Marafioti, 13. Hosine Bility, 14. Steven Pepper, 15. Dion Gazettas, 18. Jarrod Brazzale, 21. Jackson O'Donnell

Form:

South Adelaide: W L L

South Adelaide 2-0 West Torrens Birkalla
Adelaide Olympic 4-3 South Adelaide
Metro Stars 4-2 South Adelaide

Croydon Kings: L W D

Croydon Kings 0-3 Adelaide United
Adelaide Blue Eagles 1-2 Croydon Kings
Croydon Kings 1-1 West Torrens Birkalla

Preview:

South Adelaide host Croydon Kings this week in Round 8 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia.

The stage is set for an abundance of fixtures for teams in desperate places, at the top and the bottom, with title hopes and finals places becoming more important for consideration.

And, South Adelaide's nineteen year old goalkeeper, Addison Rodgers, has a huge role to play for his team—if they are to climb away from the doldrums of the bottom three.

In his second year, he says that he's adapted to the demands placed upon him as a leader and wearing the number one shirt is a position that he's grown into.

"Having some experienced fellas in front of me does help me focus a bit more—they've helped me become more confident at the back there—and they take a bit of the pressure off.

"My confidence has been building for a few years now, but now that I am consistently playing in the first team, I feel more confident."

The youngster expects a typically arduous slog, but he's positive that South can surprise another prominent visitor to O'Sullivans Beach. 

"I go into every game expecting a hard game, but in saying that, you have to approach it with confidence and believe that you are the better side on the day.

"They've had some good results so far this season, and they'll pose a challenge to us—but I think after this week on the training field, the boys are showing that they are willing to put the effort in for the win."

With a win, South Adelaide could potentially move up three places on the ladder, ahead of West Adelaide, which would put more pressure on the top teams.

It also puts an immense amount of pressure on each player in the South camp this week, but it's something that Rogers, the young keeper accepts.

"I think everyone gets nervous before a big game, and I'm no different.

“I just focus on myself, and what I have to do to have a successful game—for the club, and for me.

"Nerves are there, but I avoid thinking about it too much."

It's unfortunately been a bitter year for South Adelaide so far, and they lie at second bottom with only two wins from seven games.

In spite of that, he stays positive, which doesn't mean he walks into each week blindly—he's aware of the team's problems, and he's prepared to play a part in fixing them.

“If our goals conceded were lower, I'd be happier—but it's the way football is, sometimes it's in your favor, and other times it's against you.

"I'm enjoying the fact that we maintained a similar back line that we finished with last season … we are all willing to put in for each other."

On top of that, he believes that, because of their losses, the team have found some reliable young players—who were fortuitously forced to rise up, for the good of the team.

“We've endured some big losses this season already, because of injuries, but we've had young players  step up and lift themselves to a first team status and all they can do from here is improve."

Croydon, on the flipside, can overtake a few teams on their way towards the top four—coming off of their recent run of form; you would expect them to be able to seize those points.

However, Shaun McGreevy says that there's still room for the team to improve.

"[Our] form has been a little inconsistent—we're playing well for parts of games but we need to play well for 90 minutes.

"We'll be going to South knowing that it will be a very hard game, it always is when we play them away.

"If we can play team football for the best part of the game, I'm confident we can get a result."

A few other teams are also in position to put pressure on Adelaide City (the top seed with 16 points), which means that three points for Croydon, is the only result to keep them in reach.

"This week's game is very important—the league is so tight, we need the three points and nothing less to stay in touch with the league leaders.

"Dropping points this year will be very costly."

Ahead of the game, you'd expect Croydon to consider the repercussions of their result against South Adelaide, this week, but McGreevy wants to take football, "week by week".

"We're just focusing on one game at a time, and getting the maximum points we can out of each game.

"The ladder will take care of itself—if we keep winning, then we'll keep going up the ladder, and getting closer to where we want to be."

Written by Christian Fleetwood