Adelaide United Youth host bottom of the table side Sturt Lions in Round 12 of the South Australian National Premier League 2018 Season at Smith Partners Stadium this Sunday.
The Young Reds are looking to bounce back this week after a hard-fought defeat against West Torrens Birkalla in their last fixture.
Paul Pezos’ side still find themselves in the top half of the league standings, despite their five-match unbeaten streak coming to an end last Sunday.
Young Reds midfielder, Lachlan Brook, reflected on the loss and believed his side never played to their potential.
“It wasn’t the greatest performance, I don’t think anyone was playing their best,” Brook said.
“We created a fair amount of opportunities and we just didn’t take them and then they hit us on the counter, which I think was always their plan for the game.”
With the undefeated streak ending, Brook was hopeful that the team was ready to start another run after looking at their upcoming fixtures.
“I think we’re all disappointed and not many of the boys were too happy with that, but we’ve had a look at the next couple games and we have a point to make now and shape up,” he said.
“Having a loss wasn’t the worst thing but we’re definitely not happy.”
Up this week, United are at home against the Lions in what will be the start of the second half of the National Premier League Season.
Brook was assured that even after the setback on Sunday, the Reds still had their winning mentality.
“We’re confident and we’ve had a couple trainings in the week, but we haven’t worked too much on our game plan just yet,” he said.
“But we’re still confident if we go out we can come away with the win.”
In the reverse fixture, between the two sides back in Round 1, Adelaide went down in a 2-1 loss.
Ready to show the improvement of the squad from that first game, Brook is confident in the Reds’ ability to take all three points.
“It was the first game and a new team as well,” he explained.
“We’d played a couple games in the Foxtel Youth League, but the team has changed since then too, it’ll be good to see the improvement as a team and we can compare.”
In that opening game clash, United lost out due to a lack of clinical finishing. But the Young Reds have improved drastically in the front third and are aiming to reverse the result come Sunday.
“We work on finishing a lot with Paul (Pezos), that instinct comes with age too,” he continued.
“And our attacking players are definitely working on that aspect of their game.
“The more opportunities you get the better you get and the more clinical in front of goal you become.”
Adelaide United Youth host Sturt Lions in Round 12 of the National Premier League 2018 season on Sunday, 20 May at the Smith Partners Stadium. Kick-off is at 3.15pm ACST.
