West Adelaide v Adelaide Comets
South Australia National Premier League Round 21

When: Sunday, July 13th. Kick off 3pm
Where: Adelaide Shores Football Centre, West Beach Road, WEST BEACH

Teams:

West Adelaide: M. Alexandrou, N. Andijanto, T. Briscoe, J. Cummins, R. Da Silva, J. Fabbian, T. Guttormsen, A. Hadi, M. Hiern, M. Kemp, K. Mantis, E. Metanomski, L. Miller, L. Moss, P. Pezos, Y. Sarris, K. Tsacos, E. Vlassis, J. Watson, J. Wright

Adelaide Comets: L. Andreucci, G. Aslanidis, M. Bouzalas, C. Christofilos, K. Christofilos, E. Demourtzidis, K. Francis, A. Hassine, Z. Hristodoulopoulos, J. Karatzas, J. Loechel, D. Makridis, D. Markov, K. Nash, E. Ramos, M. Tesema, S. Tesfagabr, N. Visvardis, S. Warner, D. Zerillo

Form:

West Adelaide: D W L

Round 18: West Adelaide 2-2 Cumberland United, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 19: West Adelaide 5-0 West Torrens Birkalla, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 20: Croydon Kings 3-0 West Adelaide, Polonia Reserve

Adelaide Comets: L W W

Round 18: Adelaide Comets 1-4 MetroStars, Santos Stadium
Round 19: Raiders 2-3 Adelaide Comets, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 20: Adelaide Comets 5-1 Campbelltown City, Santos Stadium

Preview:

In Round 21 of the South Australia National Premier League, West Adelaide host Adelaide Comets at the Adelaide Shores Football Centre, as both sides look to move closer to securing their spots in the finals series.

West Adelaide’s recent topsy-turvy form has seen them drop to fourth after leading the standings for most of the season, while Comets sit just two points behind them in fifth.

In Round 20, West Adelaide suffered a 3-0 loss against second-placed Croydon Kings, stretching the distance between themselves and league leaders MetroStars to five points.

West Adelaide attacker Nathan Andijanto believes his team has still been performing well, despite their recent results.

“Obviously with the coaching change, it takes a bit of getting used to, but against Croydon I didn’t think we played too bad,” Andijanto said.

“There were just a few lapses of concentration and we didn’t take all of our chances, which obviously hurt us. In terms of form, I don’t think we’ve been playing too bad at all. We had the 5-0 win against Birkalla, so form has been good.

“We’re looking to bounce back. It will be good to play at home because the pitch suits our playing style. Hopefully we can knock the ball around and keep possession and play our game.

“It’s crucial to win to stay in touch, especially at this stage of the season; this is when championships are won and lost.”

Andijanto spoke about his side’s preparations for Sunday’s clash.

“We’ve just been working away at our shape and how we’re going to play, not worrying too much about the other team.

“We want to try to control the game and I think there will be a big emphasis on taking our chances this week and really punishing the other team.”

Comets clinched six points in four days, thrashing Campbelltown City 5-1 on Saturday, before winning 3-2 against Raiders in their Round 19 catch-up game on Tuesday night.

Davide Zerillo of Adelaide Comets said the two wins were defining moments for their season.

“We were coming off a couple losses before the two wins, a little bit of a downward patch, so they were quite defining for us to get that extra buffer on Campbelltown and Adelaide City, who were creeping up behind us,” Zerillo said.

“West Adelaide are just above us, they’ve dropped a few points recently, so they’re not in the best form at the moment.

“It’s very important for us to try to keep in touch with the top three or four, so getting a win would be very, very important.”

Zerillo said Comets are well prepared, despite their heavy playing schedule.

“We’ve prepared well. Having two games in four days does not help, but we are looking sharp and we don’t really have many injuries at all, so physically I think we are doing quite well.

“Going down to West Adelaide would be one of the hardest trips. We played there [Adelaide Shores Football Centre] on Tuesday night and it is quite a difficult pitch to play on, so it is definitely going to be a challenge.”

When these sides met in Round 8, Comets became the first team to defeat West Adelaide in their return to top-flight football, winning 3-1 at Santos Stadium.