Adelaide United closed out their four-day pre-season camp in Mildura with a 3-0 defeat to Melbourne Victory at the Mildura Sporting Precinct on Saturday afternoon.
Early goals from Victory – Razmovski (2’), Vergos (10’), and Jelacic (16’) – put the Reds on the back foot, but Head Coach Airton Andrioli emphasised the value of the contest as a learning experience for a youthful squad missing several senior players.
United’s starting XI featured: Smits, Kitto, Kasumovic, Phillis, Pierias, Duzel, Alagich, Madanha, Ayoubi, Dukuly, and Goodwin.
Substitutes included Monga, Folami, Najdovski, White, O’Neil, Crawford, Stanisic, and Tatu, with new signing Anselmo gaining more valuable minutes for the Club.
Andrioli on the early goals…
“We learned that we need to be resilient and deal with situations like today. When you’re three goals down inside 15 minutes, it makes things very difficult. But credit to the boys – they came back into the game and showed character and personality.”
On young players gaining experience…
“It wasn’t easy for the likes of Sotiri [Phillis] and Feyzo [Kasumovic] to line up in defence against strong opposition, but they will learn from it. Giving young players these opportunities is part of our philosophy, and they will only grow from experiences like this.”
On missing players and squad building…
“We’ve had a long pre-season but haven’t had the chance to play the same team consistently. A number of senior players are away or returning from injury, and Juan Muñiz only arrived yesterday. Once we get everyone back in, the squad will settle, and we’ll be ready for Round One.”
On the Mildura camp…
“It’s been a fantastic four days. The players spent valuable time together, we had some good training sessions, and we connected with the community through clinics and events. We’ve been really well looked after here, and the support today was excellent.”
On the travelling fans and the Red Army who travelled…
“We owe a lot to our supporters. To see so many travel from Adelaide and fill the stands was brilliant. We want to give them something to cheer about when the season begins, and that remains our focus.”
Header image: Antonis Pagonis
