Adelaide United Youth welcome Raiders to the VALO Sports Centre on Saturday as we reach the halfway point of the season.
The Young Reds will be desperate to end a three-game losing streak against a side they defeated 2-0 in the reverse fixture on the opening round of the campaign.
Raiders themselves have improved since then, however, occupying fourth spot on goal difference and have adapted well upon their return to the top-flight.
Despite coming up empty handed in their previous three games, utility Kristin Konstandopoulos believes they have played better than those results suggest.
“We haven’t had good results recently,” Konstandopoulos said, after United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Adelaide Blue Eagles in their most recent outing.
“But I don’t think we’ve been playing poorly at all.
“I think we’ve been playing alright on the ball, but I think defensively we’ve struggled a bit.
“But we still need to put away our chances as well and attack. We’re not playing bad, we just need to focus and forget about the losses and worry about winning our next game.”
As mentioned, Adelaide prevailed in their earlier meeting this season and Konstandopoulos is predicting nothing less than a difficult game.
The 20-year-old stressed the importance of collecting three points to remain in the top six.
The Gepps Cross outfit also thumped Croydon 5-1 last weekend following successive losses, but exited the quarter finals of the FFA Cup SA in a penalty shootout defeat to Adelaide Comets on Wednesday night.
“First time we played them it was a hard game,” he said
“They were a good side and I expect them to be a good side again.
“So it’s going to be a tough fight but we can beat any team if we play well.
“… I think this week is a must win for us, we needed to win last week but we didn’t so this week it needs to happen.”
Adelaide United Youth host Raiders Round 11 of the National Premier League 2019 season on Saturday, 25 May at VALO Football Centre – The Parks. Kick-off is at 3.00 PM. Reserves kick-off at 12.45pm.
