Campbelltown City v Adelaide United
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Round 21

When: Saturday, August 6th. Kick-off 3pm
Where: Steve Woodcock Sports Centre, Stradbroke Road, NEWTON

Teams:

Campbelltown City: 2. Shaun Harvey, 4. Iain Fyfe (C), 5. James Wilson, 6. Vasilis Parhas, 7. Luigi Ditroia, 8. Kento Hara, 9. Thomas Strain, 10. Jake Monaco, 11. Anthony Ture, 12. Jacob Williams, 14. Adam Piscioneri, 15. Aidan Masone, 16. Kristos Stefanopoulos, 18. Keita Minomura, 20. Nicholas Harpas (GK), 23. Jake Halliday, 28. Joshua Negrean

Adelaide United: 1. John Hall (GK), 3. Jordan Maricic, 4. Ryan James, 6. Jordan Elliott, 8. Jordan O'Doherty, 9. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, 10. Dylan Smith, 11. Joshua Mori, 12. Aladin Irabona, 14. Blake Carpenter, 15. Benjamin Warland, 18. Johnny Koutroumbis, 19. Alec Maiolo, 21. Paul Wilson, 22. Riley Mcgree, 24. Ryan Strain

Form:

Campbelltown City: W W W

Round 18: Adelaide Comets 1-3 Campbelltown City, SA Athletics Stadium
Round 19: Raiders 0-2 Campbelltown City, Croatian Sports Centre
Round 20: Campbelltown City 4-1 Adelaide Olympic, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre

Adelaide United: L L W

Round 18: Adelaide United 1-3 Adelaide City, Elite Systems Football Centre
Round 19: Adelaide Comets 2-1 Adelaide United, SA Athletics Stadium
Round 20: Adelaide United 3-2 Raiders, Elite Systems Football Centre

Preview:

Campbelltown City hasn’t given up the chase for top spot, but must overcome an Adelaide United side aiming to secure survival in Round 21 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia at Steve Woodcock Sports Centre this Saturday.

Campbelltown extended its unbeaten run to 14 matches – including three wins in succession – last Saturday as it eased past Adelaide Olympic 4-1.

Winger Luigi Ditroia, who opened the scoring last weekend, said it was a welcome result ahead of the finals.

“It was a very good performance,” he said.

“We didn’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but we felt we did enough to win it by half-time. It was a lack of concentration in conceding the goal.

“But we stuck to our plan in the second half and got another goal too, which was good.

“Each game is crucial and we want to put in as good as performance as we can each week, which helps us build momentum.”

The Red Devils will finish no lower than second, but remain a slim chance of catching Adelaide City in first. To do so, and reach the national NPL Finals, they must overturn a four-point deficit in the final two matches.

Ditroia is not expecting any favours from the Reds.

“It is a tough ask to finish first. Anything is possible, however, and we haven’t given up hope. All we can do is grab six points.

“We are in the top two, which is crucial for finals. We won’t get ahead of ourselves, we have to keep working hard and remain disciplined.

“It’s a must-win game for Adelaide United. We are expecting a tough game as they are a good ball-playing side.”

Adelaide United recorded a much-needed victory against Raiders last Saturday to ease relegation fears. The 3-2 result also ended a three match losing streak.

Assistant coach Ivan Karlovic said it was a reward for the players.

“It was an important win in the context of our season,” he said.

“It was a reward for the players. We have been playing well in the past five weeks but weren’t getting the results we deserved.

“It was a good performance, we created a lot of opportunities.

“We need to work on converting those opportunities and also cutting out the defensive lapses. It’s a young squad, but you cannot afford to have lapses against the best teams.”

The win also allowed the young Reds to jump four points clear of 11th placed Croydon with only six left on offer. United also moved clear of South Adelaide and Adelaide Olympic.

Karlovic said that will boost morale ahead of this difficult test with Campbelltown.

“It gives the players confidence that they will be rewarded for performances.

“The mood has been positive all season, even recently when we haven’t won as much. We have put in good performances and deserved more points.

“If we can play well against the best sides we are a good chance in most games.

“This will be a tough test, but we played well against Campbelltown last time. We were unlucky then and if we play as we have been and are able to convert chances, we will be a chance.”