Port Adelaide Pirates v Modbury
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Round 14

When: Saturday, May 23^rd. Kick-off 3pm
Where: John Hart Reserve (Pirate Park), off Swan Terrace, ETHELTON

Teams:

Port Adelaide Pirates: I. CarmodyJ. ColeyA. CostalosJ. DabinetJ. ForresterJ. GilesR. GrayM. MastropaoloJ. MavromatisN. MavromatisK. Mc FadyenS. ParkinsonD. PearceJ. SkeffingtonH. Tanaka

Modbury: 8 D. Shaksi26 B. Jackson12 P. Reilly2 M. Costantini3 N. Green18 T. HendersonC. Maio14 K. Mcnally10 D. Clarke4 M. Coull19 A. Lindsay9 S. Maio15 M. Marcinko11 L. Miller17 S. Mitchell16 F. Rinaldo

Form:

Port Adelaide Pirates: L W L

Round 12: Port Adelaide Pirates 0-4 MetroStars, Pirate Park
FFA Cup Qualification Quarter-Final: Sturt 2-3 Port Adelaide Pirates, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 13: Adelaide Blue Eagles 5-2 Port Adelaide Pirates, Marden Sports Complex 

Modbury: L W L

FFA Cup Qualification Round 2: Para Hills 2-2 Modbury (Para Hills win 7-6 on penalties), The Paddocks
Round 12: Modbury 3-0 Para Hills, Jet Park
Round 13: MetroStars 2-0 Modbury, TK Shutter Reserve

Preview:

As the second half of the season commences both Port Adelaide Pirates and Modbury will be hoping to return to the winners list in Round 14 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia at Pirate Park on Saturday.

The Pirates are through to the last four of Westfield FFA Cup Qualifying, but last weekend were defeated 5-2 by Adelaide Blue Eagles.

James Coley says after facing each team, Port knows it must be on its game at all times.

“It was a tough match against a good opponent in Blue Eagles,” Coley admitted.

 "We always try to be positive and try to play our natural game which is to attack. That can leave us open.

“We’ve learnt there are no easy games. There are plenty of strong teams in this league and you have to play well every game.”

Derek Hall’s team has provided entertainment in their return to the top flight. The Pirates have scored more goals than three sides inside the top six, yet its defence is the second worst.

Ninth-placed Port opened the season with a win over the Jets and Coley says it is hoping to start the second half of the campaign in a similar fashion.

“The aim is to get a good start to the second half. If we can get on a run then finals can be an aim. However, staying in the League is more of an immediate goal.

“An area we can improve is to tighten up at the back. We are scoring goals, but then conceding which undoes the work at the other end.

“Facing Modbury is always a battle. We’ve had some good games against them in the last few years.”

Modbury sits in 11^th after losing just its second game in the last seven League outings last weekend against MetroStars" 

Despite the defeat, Paul Reilly believes the Jets have settled after a slow start.

“We knew MetroStars would be tough. There were some positives to take from it, but also areas we need to keep working on. We aren’t too disappointed, although obviously we wanted a better result,” the goalkeeper stated.

“We had a slow start. The opening five or six games were poor. We changed a few things, got players back and have improved recently.

“It took us a while to settle, but now we have more confidence in ourselves and what we want to do.”

The Jets picked up a solitary point from the opening six rounds, but having accumulated 11 from the last seven matches are now outside the relegation zone.

Reilly says they can further improve, but is expecting better things from the remaining fixtures.

“We have tightened up defensively, which was our first concern. We could use the ball a lot better and eliminate turnovers. You get punished in this league for that.

“There’s more to come from this team. We have high hopes for the rest of the season.

“It will be a different game compared to this first round. We were disappointed with that game.

“We are a different side to then and will look to get our second half off to the best possible start.”

Article by Luca Cetta - @l_cetta