R19 Preview: Raiders v Campbelltown City

PlayStation4 National Premier Leagues South Australia

Round 19: Raiders v Campbelltown City

Where: Croatian Sports Centre, Main North Road, Gepps Cross.
When: Saturday, July 23 at 3 PM.

Teams:

Raiders: 1. Francesco Tropiano, 2. Mason Robinson-Norwood, 3. Andrew Tamburrino, 4. David Carosi, 5. Matthew Mullen, 6. Pietro Piantedosi, 7. Alex Cosmidis, 8. Michael Paleka (C), 9. Mario Marcinko, 10. Justin Bralic, 11. Paul Karittevlis, 13. Deale Chamberlain (GK), 14. Shekubah Hutton-Addy, 16. Thomas Sosa, 17. Yasmin Sudic, 19. Fuma Kido, 20. Zack Doyle, 21. Mislav (mimi) Saric, 22. Jamie O'Doherty, 23. Nicholas Budin

Campbelltown City: 4. Iain Fyfe (C), 5. James Wilson, 6. Vasilis Parhas, 7. Luigi Ditroia, 8. Kento Hara, 9. Thomas Strain, 10. Jake Monaco, 11. Anthony Ture, 12. Jacob Williams, 13. Shaun Harvey, 14. Adam Piscioneri, 16. Kristos Stefanopoulos, 17. Jake Halliday, 19. Keita Minomura, 20. Nicholas Harpas (GK), 28. Joshua Negrean

Form:

Raiders: L L L
Round 16: Raiders 0-4 Adelaide City, Croatian Sports Centre.
Round 17: Adelaide Comets 2-0 Raiders, SA Athletics Stadium.
Round 18: Raiders 0-1 Adelaide Olympic, Croatian Sports Centre.

Campbelltown City: W D W
Round 16: Campbelltown City 3-2 West Adelaide, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre.
Round 17: Campbelltown City 1-1 Adelaide City, Steve Woodcock Sports Centre.
Round 18: Adelaide Comets 1-3 Campbelltown City, SA Athletics Stadium.

Second meets last place when Campbelltown City clashes with Raiders in Round 19 of the PlayStation4 National Premier Leagues South Australia at the Croatian Sports Centre this Saturday.

Campbelltown City has been in fine form for the majority season, being undefeated since the 4-3 loss against Adelaide City in Round Six.

Sitting second with four games remaining, Campbelltown defender Jake Monaco believes his team is peaking at the right time.

“We’ve been second for a little while,” Monaco said.

“And I think we just continue to sort of play the way we want to play, and we keep getting good results.

“Coming into finals time, we obviously want to be playing our best football, and I think the last couple of weeks, we’ve done really well not to lose.

“Even though we’re struggling a little bit towards the end of games, we’ve done really well to fight out games and get the results.

“So I think we are peaking at the right time.”

Although Campbelltown has a playoff spot all but assured, Monaco insists that he and his teammates aren’t getting ahead of themselves.

“No, we’re trying not to think too far ahead,” he said.

“We are sort of taking it one step at a time.

“Our main focus is still on Raiders this week, and we’ll continue to just focus game after game because that’s what we’ve been doing all season, and that’s sort of what Joe (Mullen) always tells us to do, to always focus one game at a time.”

Even though Raiders are sitting last with relegation confirmed, Monaco doesn’t see the upcoming opposition as easy beats.

“I mean it’s always a tough game,” he said,” there is no easy game in this league.”

“Even though they are sort of sitting down the bottom, we’ll approach this game like we approach any other game.

“They’ll still come out and play for pride.

“They’re still going to be out there playing as best as they can, and we got to make sure we give a professional performance, and get the job done.”

For Raiders captain Michael Paleka, confirmation of his team’s relegation has been a bitter pill to swallow.

“It’s not a good feeling,”Paleka said,” it’s pretty disappointing.”

“Obviously this season didn’t go according to what we had hoped.

“But, unfortunately, that’s what it is, and we got to move forward.”

Paleka says the remaining four matches will be a test of character for his team.

“We’re looking at the last four games as a test of character,” he said.

“We have players playing for contracts for next season, you know things like that.

“The main thing is it is a test of character for the boys, and for the coach to see who is worthy of contract for next season, if they want to be part of the Adelaide Raiders Soccer Club.”

However, Paleka sees a major lesson that his young team can take from this season.

“Don’t take a season for granted, mate,” he said.

“Football, you don’t play for your whole career, so you got to make the most of it.

“It’s great winning championships, but you don’t want to finish being relegated.

“So, it’s a fairly young squad, and it’s a lesson they will learn, that they don’t want to be in that situation again.

“It’s one season that you’ve lost from your career.


“So hopefully, it will make them stronger, and moving forward, makes them a better player or better players.”
Written by Christopher Munker

 




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