Modbury Jets v Port Adelaide Pirates
South Australia PlayStation4 National Premier League Round 1

When: Friday, February 13th. Kick-off 7:30pm

Where: Jet Park, Cnr Golden Grove & Milne Road, RIDGEHAVEN

Teams:

Modbury Jets: 26 B. Jackson12 P. Reilly2 M. Costantini15 J. Covino3 N. Green A. Haralampopoulos18 T. Henderson14 K. Mcnally5 A. Polisena8 D. Shaksi10 D. Clarke4 M. Coull17 J. Coyne19 A. Lindsay6 G. Zollo7 R. Devlin9 S. Maio16 M. Marcinko11 L. Miller

Port Pirates: 1. Isaac Carmody (GK), 2. Lewis Farquhar, 3. Michael Mastropaolo, 4. Jake Forrester, 5. James Skeffington, 6. Ross Gray, 7. James Coley, 8. Kieran McFadyen (C), 9. Yani Koulocheris, 10. Jonathan Mavromatis, 11. Hiraku Tanaka, 12. Anthony Costalos, 13. Solomon Williams, 14. Daniel Pearce, 15. Nicholas Krznaric, 16. Nicholas Mavromatis, George Agalidis, Jack Mead, Scott Parkinson

Form:

Modbury Jets: N/A 
Pirates: N/A

Preview:
A welcome return of top tier football to Jet Park this season kicks off for Modbury with fellow promoted team Pirates on Friday night in the South Australia PlayStation4 National Premier League.

Over recent years Modbury have had the edge over Derek Hall’s teams, and the ex-Coventry City player is keen to stop the rot and get a win against the Jets.

Both teams will be eager to get their season off to a winning start, and get some confidence ready for the challenges ahead against the State’s powerhouses in future rounds.

Modbury first team coach, Jason Trimboli and Pirates captain Kieran McFadyen both mentioned how their respective clubs are excited to be back in the top division and were expecting a close game.

Over the past few years Pirates have been a free scoring team and they would hope to capitalise on the new look Modbury team, who have lost a wealth of experience including veteran Matt Kelly (retired), Aaron Westerwelt (Cobras), Jonathan Negus (Cumberland) and their goal scoring hero of last season, Charlie Bowman, who has gone back ‘home’ to Adelaide Hills Hawks.

Pirates McFadgen noted how his side are ready for the season to finally begin.

“We are looking forward to getting the Premier League underway. The lads are all excited and having had a good pre-season and some promising results, we are ready. 

“We are obviously hoping for a win, but we also know Modbury are just as keen as we are and will really be up for it too.

“Going away to Modbury is always hard, but there will be a good crowd for the first game and we are confident we can come away with the 3 points and get a good start to the season.”

Jets boss Trimboli was not surprisingly as upbeat about Round 1 as McFadgen.

“We are excited to be back in the NPL, and whilst results have been mixed in preseason, we have trained hard and we have a lot of belief in the group.

“Traditionally we match up very well with Pirates, it will be a tough game but we believe we can bring home the 3 points.”

With a warm evening forecast, all the fitness work put in by the two teams will be tested with the game potentially being decided by the survival of the fittest.

Article by Matthew Selby - @mselbyLFCSC