Adrian Stenta says he would like to see his Adelaide United Youth Reserves team defend set-pieces better ahead of their meeting with MetroStars Reserves on Sunday.
Adelaide and MetroStars occupy third and fourth spot on the table respectively, with next to nothing separating the pair.
Both have the same number of wins, draws and losses while also boasting an identical goal difference.
Stenta is anticipating a very hard-fought contest against the Klemzig-based club.
“Metro have always provided us with really tough games,” Stenta said.
“They always have a strong Reserves side and we’ve played them a lot over the last couple of years.
“So looking at their results this year is going to be no different and we’re in for a really difficult challenge.
“And we’re just looking forward to see if we can improve our consistency a little bit more because we’ve been a bit up and down in the last couple of weeks.”
Last time out, Stenta’s side showed great resilience to fight back and secure a 5-3 win over Croydon.
He was encouraged by the belief shown by his players, particularly when dealing with adversity.
“We started slowly and found ourselves a couple of goals down in the first-half,” Stenta said.
“But one of the positives was that we never stopped believing in the fact that we could win the game and the fact that we were able to hit back before half-time and level the score.
“And even though we went behind again early in the second-half, we still persevered and kept attacking, and kept believing that we could win the game. And it was nice to finish off by scoring a couple of really nice team goals as well.”
However, as Stenta alluded to, defending set-piece situations has been a cause for concern of late.
United have leaked five goals in their previous two matches.
“We always pride ourselves on being able to defend well as a team and not concede,” Stenta explained.
“But if you’ve a look at the past couple of games we’ve conceded five goals and four of those have come from dead ball situations.
“I think we’re playing well defensively, but it’s more a matter of just trying to tighten up on some of those defensive set-piece situations and not conceding from free-kicks or giving away needless penalties.”
Adelaide United Youth host MetroStars in Round 7 of the National Premier League 2019 season on Sunday, 14 April at VALO Football Centre – The Parks. Kick-off is at 3.30 PM. Reserves kick-off at 1.15pm.
