R18 Preview: Raiders v Adelaide Olympic

Raiders v Adelaide Olympic

PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia - Round 18

When: Saturday, July 16th Kick-off 3pm
Where: Croatian Sports Centre, Gepps Cross

Teams:

Raiders: 1. Francesco Tropiano, 2. Mason Robinson-Norwood, 3. Andrew Tamburrino, 5. Matthew Mullen, 6. Pietro Piantedosi, 7. Alex Cosmidis, 8. Michael Paleka (C), 11. Paul Karittevlis, 12. Jake Mccabe, 13. Deale Chamberlain (GK), 14. Shekubah Hutton-Addy, 16. Thomas Sosa, 17. Yasmin Sudic, 19. Fuma Kido, 20. Zack Doyle, 21. Mislav Saric, 22. Jamie O'Doherty, 23. Nicholas Budin, 24. David Carosi

Adelaide Olympic: Sean Brennan, Oliver Totani, Matthew Bouzalas, Christopher Mara, Haris Vuckic, Thomas Brown, Ioannis Simosis, Kosta Mantis, George Hristakopoulos, Gino De Lucia (GK), Manni Katopodis, Jairus Wyten, Michael Papacharalambous (C), David Makridis, Fausto Erba, Tomas Maricic, Christos Pounendis


Form:

Raiders: L L L

Round 15: West Adelaide 2 def. Raiders 1
Round 16: Raiders 0 lost Adelaide City 4
Round 17: Adelaide Comets 2 def. Raiders 0

Adelaide Olympic: D L L

Round 15: WT Birkalla 3 drew Adelaide Olympic 3
Round 16: Adelaide Olympic 2 lost Adelaide Comets 4
Round 17: South Adelaide 4 def. Adelaide Olympic 1


Preview:

The battle to avoid relegation continues at the Croatian Sports Centre this Saturday afternoon when Raiders host Adelaide Olympic in their Play Station 4 National Premier League South Australia round 18 fixture.

Raiders, with matches against Campbelltown City, Blue Eagles and Birkalla in the coming weeks, look destined for the exit door at the end of the season unless they can mimic the great escape artist Harry Houdini’s exploits.

Since their rousing 3 nil victory over South Adelaide in round 12, Raiders have struggled to find any consistent form, failing to pick up a point in their past five outings, which has compounded their predicament. And this week’s date with Olympic isn’t going to be any easier as the visitors will be looking for maximum points for their own survival in the competition.

The loss of key defender Bralic through suspension will put added pressure on the already thin Raider’s defence. Robbie Matosevic (Raiders coach) will be looking for a big effort from Mathew Mullen in defence and midfielders Yasmin Sudic, Fuma Kido and Paul Karittavelis to give themselves any hope of causing an upset.

Adelaide Olympic coach Maurice Natale knows the importance of this contest and he will have to have his chargers in the right frame of mind when they step onto the park if they are going to keep their season alive.

Olympic look very solid through the middle third of the park and will rely heavily on Kosta Mantis, David Signore and Mani Katopodis to win enough of the ball to give their leading goal scorer Fausto Erba, and speedster Shaun Brennan goal scoring opportunities.

This do or die match will have all the hallmarks of a cup final. For the winner, they will move further away from the red zone, while for the loser they will cement themselves down to the bottom of the ladder.

The visitors with a stronger line-up will start favourites, but if Raiders can generate enough belief in themselves then the improbable could become the probable.

Written by: Joe Pangallo




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