Adelaide United Youth play away this week against Sturt Lions in their first game of the South Australian National Premier League 2018 Season, at the Adelaide Shores Football Centre.
Adelaide United Youth take on Sturt Lions in their season opener this weekend in what coach Paul Pezos’ believes will be the start of a brand-new challenge for the Young Reds.
“It’s exciting for us and it’s a new venture, a new league that we’re entering into away from the Youth League.
“We’re very excited and looking forward to the opening game of the NPL.”
Looking ahead to the fixture, Pezos believes that his players hard work in training is a good indicator of his team’s hunger and drive,
“I can’t fault their training, they’ve been very good and they’ve had a bit of a break and are looking forward to coming back on track.
“We’re always going to have confidence, we’ve always got belief and a winning mentality is something we’ve tried to instil in this group.
“We really want to play finals football and that’s no secret, it’s definitely one of our targets this season.
“I think we can come away with three points, doesn’t matter if we’re home or away we’ll never change our style and we’ll try to play attacking football at a high intensity.
“Again, it doesn’t matter if we’re home or away this is what we will always try to do.”
Overall Pezos was optimistic about the Young Reds upcoming season in the National Premier League with some clear developmental goals set for the year.
“Of course, goals for our coaching staff and the development team is to develop players to the next level, which is the A-League.
“One step that we’ve achieved in a way in the first stage is to push the boys to the next level, and we’re trying to get players to train with the first team.
“The first team have looked at a couple players in training sessions and invited them up to the A-League and the next step is to get those boys from training to being there every week on a full-time basis playing A-League football.”
Adelaide United Youth visit Sturt Lions at The Adelaide Shores Football Centre for Round 1 of the National Premier League 2018 season on Saturday 17 February. Kick-off is at 3:00 PM, Reserves kick-off at 1:00pm.