The Adelaide United Youth Team will face South Adelaide in Round 14 of the 2016 National Premier League at the Elite Systems Football Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Following a 2-0 loss to West Torrens Birkalla last weekend, the Young Reds return home ready to confront South Adelaide in their second meeting of the season, in what is certain to echo the reverse fixture, where the Reds narrowly defeated the Panthers 2-1.
Head Coach of the Young Reds, Mark Jones, is positive that his team can overcome South Adelaide again, but believes it will still be another stern challenge.
“In our last meeting with South Adelaide they had strong periods throughout the game, so we will have to make sure we play for 90 minutes and score those goals,” Jones said.
“Things are definitely looking better recently and hopefully we’ll have a number of players back from injury on the weekend and try to get our strongest team on the park which has been difficult recently.
“Our senior boys are still unavailable, but we’ll have Marc Marino again and without a doubt still a strong line-up on the park against South Adelaide.”
United are determined to reward themselves with three points, as performances have been paramount in recent weeks.
#AUFC would like to provide a player update regarding its #NPLSA squad. More: https://t.co/eyOCZRUm7c pic.twitter.com/D4vGJ6VbTf
— Adelaide United YT (@aufc_YouthTeam) June 10, 2016
But in order to climb the competition’s ladder, Jones says his side must continue training hard and sticking to their tactics, whilst taking goal-scoring inspiration from the Copa America and European Championship.
“We’ll just need to score more goals, and with the Copa America and European Championships at the moment they score goals to win and with a little bit of class.
“These big tournaments are the best examples to the future generations of how to play football and we need to be putting the ball in the back of the net like these teams, but it’s important for us to stick to our game plan and tactics.”
Ahead of facing South Adelaide, Mark Jones believes his team will go undefeated against their opponents, despite missing players that faced them back in March.
Scoring more goals is essential to winning matches, and Jones is adamant that with the new players in the Young Reds side it is definitely possible.
“We always go into a game with the belief and mindset we will do well, but of course it’s never 100 per cent guaranteed,” Jones continued.
“But with the injection of new players into our team I believe a win on the weekend is possible and we will see goals being scored.
“We are quite defensively sound, but with the odd goal against the run of play we’ll have to try and keep a clean sheet.
“The most important thing is to score more goals, which is what it comes down to.”
