R19 Preview: West Adelaide v WT Birkalla
West Adelaide v West Torrens Birkalla
PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia
When: Saturday, 23 July. Kick-off, 3 PM.
Where: Adelaide Shores Football Centre, West Beach Road, West Beach.
Teams:
West Adelaide: 1. Daniel Atkins, 4. Jack Yull, 5. Robin Lippett, 6. Elias Vlassis, 7. Joseph Wright, 10. Ricardo Da Silva (C), 11. Thomas Briscoe, 13. Hikaru Tanaka, 14. Nathan Andijanto, 15. Sam Shoemark, 17. Perry Mitris, 18. Yiannis Nestoras, 19. John Karatzas, 20. Tony Hatzis, 21. Toshihiro Hara (GK), 22. Michael Alexandrou, 23. Mitchell Nicholson
West Torrens Birkalla: 1. Julian Torresan (C) (GK), 3. Charlie Rhodes, 4. Tom Dittmar, 5. Scott Nagel, 6. Lawrence D'Arrigo, 7. Fumiya Suzuki, 10. Paul Radice, 11. Ryan Yates, 12. Taro Kawamura, 13. William Plush, 18. Alexander Metanomski, 20. Patrick Pietrosanti, 23. Nicholas Polli, 24. Ian Kamau, 80. John-Paul Cirillo
Form:
West Adelaide: L W L
Round 16: Campbelltown City 3-2 West Adelaide, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre.
Round 17: West Adelaide 2-1 Adelaide United, Adelaide Shores Football Centre.
Round 18: Adelaide Blue Eagles 2-0 West Adelaide, Marden Sports Complex.
West Torrens: W L W
Round 16: West Torrens Birkalla 6-1 South Adelaide, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 17: MetroStars 2-0 West Torrens Birkalla, TK Shutter Reserve
Round 18: West Torrens Birkalla 3-1 Croydon Kings, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Preview:
With the 2016 PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia season rapidly drawing to a close, West Adelaide will take to the field on Saturday against West Torrens Birkalla expecting nothing less than a victory.
Sitting only two points away from a spot in the top six, the last four weeks of the regular season are critical in securing finals football for the reiging champions.
Though a beckoning clash between current occupants of sixth spot, MetroStars, in round 21 could prove to be pivotal, West Adelaide will need to stay hot on their heels in order to be in with a chance.
West Adelaide defender, Robby Lippett, said the team was aware of the magnitude of the next four weeks and are entirely focused on securing their place in the post season.
“The boys are aware of how important every game is from now on,” he said.
“We’re hungry and will take every game as a grand final for the remainder of the season, we’re not worried about any other team but ourselves and we won’t accept anything other than a win this Saturday.”
After a loss in round 18 to Adelaide Blue Eagles in which they failed to hit the back of the net, Lippett said players would need to step up in the final third in order to snatch the win.
“Last week’s result was disappointing, but the result isn’t a reflection on how we played.
“We felt like we dominated in all areas of the field for a majority of the game, but that’s football and sometimes the ball just doesn’t want to go in.
“Our danger players need to step up this week and need to punish them early, we need to be ruthless in defence and firing in the final third.”
After a surprise loss to MetroStars in round 17, Birkalla turned things around to take all three points against Croydon Kings.
However, the run in won’t be smooth sailing for the Novar Gardens club as Blue Eagles are only four points behind and breathing down their necks.
Scott Nagel said the team was chosing not to focus on Blue Eagles, instead looking towards mounting a strong finals campaing.
“I feel that to obtain top spot or even second is a big ask as both (Adelaide) City and Campbelltown are in a great position and are playing well,” he said.
“What we need to focus on now is increasing our intensity at training and games to make sure we are in prime performance ready for finals.
“Blue Eagles are close behind us but we shouldn’t be concerned about that, we just need to keep our focus on ourselves and getting ready for finals and the best way to do this is through confidence and winning.”
Nagel said he was expecting West Adelaide to come out hard given the circumstances, but Birkalla would not make it easy for them.
“We are expecting West Adelaide to come out hard, and of course, we will too.
“We may not be as desperate for a win but we still want to secure third position and we can’t afford losses and losing confidence in any way.
“If we want to be a strong contender in finals we must beat every team, and it starts now.”
Written by Brendan Simpkins - @RealSimpkins
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