Ahead of Adelaide United Youth Reserves’ Grand Final with Adelaide Comets at VALO Football Centre on Sunday, Head Coach, Adrian Stenta, says he has tried to “keep things as normal as possible” during training.
The Young Reds come into the clash having won three straight do-or-die finals, most recently beating minor premiers Raiders 2-0.
Meanwhile, Comets had the week off after initially beating the Gepps Cross based club 3-0 on aggregate earlier in the finals series.
Stenta said he has been impressed with his team’s application in training throughout the week.
“The preparation has been really good so far,” Stenta said.
“It helps to have some nicer weather to train with as well and the boys have a confident air about them and they’ve been fantastic so far at training this week.”
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While it is easy to get caught up in the hype that surrounds the anticipation of a grand final, Stenta added he has tried to maintain a sense of normality by reiterating to his side about doing the fundamentals right.
“Just try and keep things as normal as possible,” he said when asked about his main message to his players.
“I know that it’s hard to do that because it’s not necessarily just another normal game.
“But just really trying to stress to the players that it doesn’t matter what you’re playing for or what the game is you’re currently playing in; it’s about good decision making, simple execution and whoever can do that under pressure the best usually comes out on top.”
This will be the fourth match between the two teams this year with Comets prevailing in all three games.
Despite the difficult results, Stenta stressed his side have completely moved on.
“We have a clear understanding that what’s already happened is out of our control,” he stated.
“We can’t change anything that’s occurred this season and so the group is very forward thinking and very forward focussed.
“And like I said confident that they can do a job against whoever we play each week.
“It doesn’t always come out in our favour, but it’s one of the most enjoyable things about working with this group of players has been they’ve very driven to succeed and be the best they can be.
“That’s a fantastic attribute within the playing group.”
Stenta said reducing the number of errors they make will in turn minimise the chances Comets have to cause problems.
“I just think if we can limit the amount of mistakes we make ourselves it will probably go a long way to denying them some opportunities to exploit us with some of their strengths,” he continued.
“We just need to be confident and back ourselves in and our game style, our plans, how we want to go about playing the game and hopefully our best is good enough to get the job done.”
Adelaide United Youth Reserves face Adelaide Comets Reserves in the Grand Final of the National Premier League 2019 Reserves Finals Series on Sunday, 15 September at VALO Football Centre – The Parks. Kick-off is at 4:30 PM.
