Adelaide United have a mammoth task ahead of them, when they come up against Adelaide City in Round 14 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League at Adelaide City Park on Saturday.
The Young Reds have much improved from their shaky start to the campaign, having beaten a few of the league’s giants as well as displaying some quality football.
At the weekend, Adelaide United matched Adelaide Comets, as they held them to a scoreless 45 minutes, whilst having the stronghold with a 1-0 lead.
The Reds came close to causing an upset, but were forced to share the spoils in what ended in a 2-2 result.
Top of the table Adelaide City will be another tough test, as they outclassed Para Hills Knights 2-0 and will look to continue their winning form.
When Adelaide United last met Damien Mori’s men, it ended in a dismal 1-7 loss at The Parks Football Centre, but Head Coach, Huss Skenderovic believes that this will not be the case on Saturday.
“We have that belief again, and we demonstrated last weekend that we can compete with the top teams and to be able to do well, it gives us that confidence that we can take it to the top teams,” he said.
“Tactically, we have been preparing for the game, and Adelaide City are definitely the most systematic ball-playing team in the league.
“And that should suit our style of football, so we are looking forward to the challenge.”
Commenting on his side’s performance last week, Skenderovic said it has been pleasing to see the improvements, and will use past results as their motivation.
“It has been pleasing to see, and finally have that ‘fruit grow on a tree’, and they will only become better.
“Again, it’s about consistency, which I always talk about, but the question is can they do it again against Adelaide City.
“That will be the challenge for us, but I don’t think City will be as physical, which could favour us a little bit.”
“I think we have the quality to beat any team, and it will be our motivation to come back from those losses where we were badly beaten.
“With Adelaide Olympic, we did what we set out to do, and with Comets we still got a good result, which was better than last time.
“And against City, we got pummelled, so we want to make sure that against these sides, we get better results and take it to them.
“The boys are really motivated, and you can see it in their eyes that they want to overcome those losses.
“It will be interesting to see, and we can’t wait to get out there on Saturday.”
The Young Reds visit Adelaide City Park to face first placed Adelaide City on Saturday, 10 June. Kick-off is 3pm, Reserves kick-off at 1pm.
