Adelaide Olympic v West Adelaide
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia Round 12

When: Sunday, May 22. Kick-off 3pm
Where: Elite Systems Football Centre, Cowan Street, ANGLE PARK 

Teams: 

Adelaide Olympic: Michael Houdek, Kosta Mantis, Tyler Waterhouse, Sean Brennan, Oliver Totani, Matthew Bouzalas, Jairus Wyten (C), David Signore, Fausto Erba, David Makridis, Jordan Zerella, Christos Pounendis, George Hristakopoulos, Gino De Lucia (GK), Manni Katopodis, George Aslanidis, John Giannitto, Shigeyuki Sogo, Haris Vuckic, Lewis Vallelonga 

West Adelaide: 1. Lewis Moss (GK), 4. Jack Yull, 5. Robin Lippett, 10. Ricardo Da Silva (C), 11. Thomas Briscoe, 12. Thomas Veart, 13. Hikaru Tanaka, 14. Nathan Andijanto, 15. Ryan James, 16. Alexandros Koutoulogenis, 17. Perry Mitris, 18. Yiannis Nestoras, 19. John Karatzas, 20. Tony Hatzis, 21. Daniel Atkins, 22. Michael Alexandrou, 23. Mitchell Nicholson 

Form: 

Adelaide Olympic: D W L 

Round 9: Adelaide Olympic 1-1 Campbelltown City, Elite Systems Football Centre
Round 10: Croydon 2-4 Adelaide Olympic, Polonia Reserve
Round 11: Adelaide Olympic 0-2 Adelaide United, Elite Systems Football Centre 

West Adelaide: D L W 

Round 9: West Adelaide 2-2 South Adelaide, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 10: MetroStars 2-0 West Adelaide, TK Shutter Reserve
Round 11: West Adelaide 3-2 Croydon, Adelaide Shores Football Centre 

Preview: 

Just goal difference separates rivals Adelaide Olympic and West Adelaide ahead of their second meeting this season, in Round 12 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia at Elite Systems Football Centre this Sunday.

Adelaide Olympic saw a five match unbeaten run, which had taken it into the top six, halted by Adelaide United last weekend. The 2-0 loss was Olympic’s first since March. 

Coach Maurice Natale said the Reds ran out deserved winners. 

“We made a bright start, and then missed a penalty,” he said.

“We were poor from then on. Adelaide United deserved to get the win. They were sharp and able to exploit our weaknesses. 

“Maybe complacency crept in to the team. We have a few injuries which hurt us and they happen to all be to strikers.” 

Olympic, eighth, failed to win any of the first five matches on their return to the top flight, conceding 17 goals. This was highlighted by their opening day defeat to West Adelaide, ending 4-1. 

But Natale says much has changed since and is eager to see how his team performs this time around. 

“We have made a sound start. We are on target and remain confident. 

“We are taking it game by game. Every game we try to improve and be a better outfit. But there’s no talk of making the top six or avoiding relegation. 

“I think it will be a tight game, but I’m looking forward to it.

“We want to measure ourselves against a class outfit like West Adelaide. They may have had a poor run, but to me they are still the competition front-runners.” 

West Adelaide returned to the winners list last weekend. Its 3-2 success against Croydon ended a barren six-match spell which had dented the championship defence. 

Assistant coach Jim Karatzas believes it can be the spur the champions needed. 

“It was a definite relief to get the win, we had been working towards it,” he said. 

“We have played well recently, but had not been getting the results. Maybe now things are starting to go our way again. 

“The players were more switched on at training in the week and came out all guns blazing. We tend to win when we score the first goal.” 

Starting the season as one of the favourites, West Adelaide’s season has not yet reached any great heights. The Blue and Whites currently sit in seventh. 

Nonetheless, Karatzas says West’s targets remain high. 

“It has been a year where what could go wrong did go wrong. We would play well, hold possession, but things wouldn’t happen in the final third. 

“We would draw or lose a match when having three times more shots than the opposition, then concede to a counter-attack. 

“We had a talk and want to be in the top three or four. We want to build momentum from the Croydon game. 

“Olympic have had a good spate of results and it will be tough. Hopefully we can have another good win against them and build from last week.” 

Written by Luca Cetta - @l_cetta