Finals Week 1 Preview: Croydon Kings v Adelaide City
Croydon Kings v Adelaide City
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Elimination Semi Final
When: Saturday, August 22 2015. Kick-off 7:00pm
Where: Polonia Reserve, 7 Essex Crescent, CROYDON PARK
Teams:
Croydon Kings: 1 M. Moore7 L. Ditroia4 I. Fyfe3 M. Graham2 S. Harvey18 K. Minomura11 J. Monaco6 V. Parhas8 K. Hara15 M. Matricciani16 A. Ture20 N. Harpas5 A. Kaine12 A. Masone13 T. Mcsorley14 R. Townsend
Adelaide City: 1 M. Moore7 L. Ditroia4 I. Fyfe3 M. Graham2 S. Harvey18 K. Minomura11 J. Monaco6 V. Parhas8 K. Hara15 M. Matricciani16 A. Ture20 N. Harpas5 A. Kaine12 A. Masone13 T. Mcsorley14 R. Townsend
Form:
Croydon: D L W
Round 24: Croydon 1 v 1 South Adelaide, Polonia Reserve
Round 25: West Adelaide 6 v 1 Croydon Kings, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 26: Croydon v 2 v 1 Para Hills Knight, Polonia Reserve
Adelaide City: W W W
Round 24: Campbelltown City 0 v 4 Adelaide City, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Round 25: Adelaide City 3 v West Torrens-Birkalla, Adelaide City Park
Round 26: Raiders 1 v 3 Adelaide City, Croatian Sports Centre
Preview:
It is finals time in the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia as Croydon Kings take on Adelaide City in an elimination final at Polonia Reserve this Saturday.
Last year’s Grand Final winners dropped some points in the last three matches of the regular season including a heavy 6-1 loss to West Adelaide, but Croydon captain Luke Klimek isn’t fazed and is certain that his team’s form will pick up come Saturday.
“Obviously we had a disappointing result (6-1 loss to West Adelaide), but finals is a different ball game and I think our form will definitely turn,” Klimek said.
Just like it did in the middle of the regular season after the Kings had a less than convincing start to the season as Klimek explains:
“We were a bit inconsistent at the start, but we obviously turned a corner in the season,” he said.
“We had a not bad season.”
In regards to the upcoming match against Adelaide City, Klimek believes that his team needs to play to its strengths.
“We just need to play our normal game, obviously City are a very strong side.
“It will be a tight game. Whoever takes their chances and whoever can play well defensively will get the result.
“We need to put in a strong performance to progress further into the finals.”
Failure in the first week of the finals is the last thing on Klimek’s mind, but if it were to happen, the club would still have other successes to celebrate.
“To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it,”Klimek said,”but we’ve won the (Westfield FFA Qualifying) cup, so we got something to hang our hat on.
“But obviously we want to keep moving forward and get the win on Saturday night.”
Klimek’s counterpart, Adelaide City captain Matthew Halliday, is hoping to do the same and progress seems promising given City’s recent form.
City had three consecutive wins in the lead up to the finals including impressive wins against fellow finals contenders Campbelltown City (4-0) and West Torrens-Birkalla (3-0).
For Halliday, it is all about momentum heading into the finals series.
“I think what’s important heading into the finals is momentum and what we’ve been able to do is to get three good wins together and I think that’s a big thing – momentum – coming into the finals,” Halliday said.
“You don’t want to be coming into the finals coming off a loss, so it’s the perfect way to start our finals and you never know anything can happen from there.”
Although City finished the regular season in fifth place, Halliday would’ve been happier with a higher placing.
“Ideally, I think we would’ve loved to have finished a lot higher up on the table,” he said.
“I think every club strives to finish right at the top.
“But in saying that: the league was so even and to be able to make the (Westfield FFA Qualifying) cup final and also finish in the top six is something to be happy about.”
Halliday would consider elimination in the first week of the finals a failed campaign and detrimental to the team’s psyche given City’s recent finals history.
“I think it would be a failure!” Halliday said.
“We need to go further in this finals series because we’ve been knocked out twice in the first round, we really want to get something out of it,” Halliday said.
Article by Christopher Munker
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