Adelaide United Youth Reserves host South Adelaide Reserves in the final round of the regular season knowing a win will ensure a top-six berth.
United are one point clear of seventh-placed Para Hills in sixth spot.
It has been far from smooth sailing though, with the Young Reds experiencing a frustrating run of form in the second-half of the campaign, losing six straight matches.
But two wins on the bounce, against Adelaide Olympic and Adelaide Blue Eagles, has them back on track and still in control of their finals destiny.
Head Coach, Adrian Stenta, said the players’ resilience during a difficult time was key.
“Firstly, the results over the last couple of months were pretty difficult to take,” he explained.
“The players were hurting. The effort was there but it seemed at times we were just finding new and different ways to lose.
“So it’s good that in the last couple of weeks we’ve been able to turn that around. “And I think it’s really down to just the players stayed positive, their spirits were high and they didn’t lose faith in the clear objectives that we said to ourselves and the targets we wanted to achieve as a playing group.
“I think it was just a matter of getting that first win back on track and then from there the improvement will continue to come.”
Despite the dip in form Stenta admitted it was satisfying to know that they do not need to rely on the outcome of other matches if they are to make the playoffs.
“That’s the pleasing thing that we put ourselves in a position in the final round where it’s all on us,” he said.
“So we control our own fate and if we can get a positive result on the weekend hopefully it means we can play finals and I think that would be a very good achievement for this group.”
Adelaide United Youth host South Adelaide in Round 22 of the National Premier League 2019 season on Saturday, 17 August at VALO Football Centre – The Parks. Kick-off is at 7.00 PM. Reserves kick-off at 4.45pm.
