Adelaide City v West Adelaide
Westfield FFA Cup Qualifying Round 2

When: Saturday, April 25^th. Kick-off 2:30pm
Where: Adelaide City Park, Corner Fosters Road & Hilltop Drive, OAKDEN

Teams:

Adelaide City: 2 M. Acton, 7 J. Allwright, 11 N. Bucco, 19 B. Corbo, 9 A. Costa, 10 J. Costa, 15 S. Day, 8 E. El Wali, 17 D. Filosi, 5 M. Halliday, 16 G. Kolopelnyk, 13 N. Mauriello, 17 M. Mittiga, 6 M. Mullen, 20 J. O'Donnell, 14 F. Suzuki, 4 S. Tobias, 1 R. Veitch

West Adelaide: 14 N. Andijanto, 21 D. Atkins, 11 T. Briscoe, 10 R. Da Silva, 20 T. Hatzis, 18 M. Hiern, 12 A. Jackson, 16 J. Koutroumbis, 5 R. Lippett, 8 K. Mantis, 1 L. Moss, 23 M. Nicholson, 9 A. Rideout, 3 L. Vallelonga, 4 C. Verbi, 6 E. Vlassis, 7 J. Wright, 15 Y. Yamaguchi

Form:

Adelaide City: W W W

Round 9: Adelaide City 6-1 Croydon, Adelaide City Park
Round 10: Adelaide Comets 1-8 Adelaide City, SA Athletics Stadium
Round 11: Adelaide City 4-0 Campbelltown City, Adelaide City Park

West Adelaide: W W W

Round 9: West Adelaide 1-0 MetroStars, Adelaide Shores Football Centre
Round 10: Pirates 2-4 West Adelaide, Pirate Park
Round 11: West Adelaide 7-1 Modbury, Adelaide Shores Football Centre

Preview:

In a repeat of last season’s Cup final, traditional rivals and in-form pair Adelaide City and West Adelaide clash in Round 2 of Westfield FFA Cup Qualifying at Adelaide City Park this Saturday.

Adelaide City have won four successive games in all competitions, scoring 22 goals in the process and conceding just twice.

Against Campbelltown City last week the Black and Whites also kept a first clean sheet of the Playstation 4 National Premier League South Australia season.

Matthew Mullen says the team is growing in stature.

“We are finally starting to find our feet and play to our potential. We are really happy with the way we are playing at both ends of the field,” the defender stated.

“It was important to keep a clean sheet. We have been practising how to defend as a unit and last week we pressed Campbelltown well. It’s something we want to take into future games.”

City were victorious in last season’s Federation Cup and enjoyed a fantastic Westfield FFA Cup run, eventually making the last eight.

While West Adelaide triumphed in their Round 4 meeting, Mullen thinks this time will be different.

“Last year was special. We were able to test ourselves against top quality sides like Western Sydney and win. We have the opportunity to get back there and want to take it.

"West are a good side. They deserved to win in the last game.

“But we have grown in confidence in recent weeks. Last time we met our results were inconsistent. Now we have put wins together. We’ll be ready for them.”

West Adelaide warmed up for the Cup showdown by thumping Modbury 7-1, their third win on the trot. They remain the only unbeaten side in the League and are now three points clear at the top of the table.

Coach Paul Pezos picked out one area in which his side has excelled recently.

“We played quite well against Modbury in poor conditions. I was pleased to get a result,” the coach said.

“We haven’t been doing anything differently lately. We work as we normally do each week. But we have been ruthless in front of goal, perhaps that is the main difference.”

Beaten finalists in last season’s Cup and just a step away from the Grand Final, West Adelaide are gunning for success on all fronts in 2015. After defeating Campbelltown in Round 1 of Qualifying, the Blue and Whites face another difficult opponent.

While they respect Adelaide City, Pezos says he is only concerned with how his side approaches the contest.

“We are out to win. We want to win everything on offer this season.

“Adelaide City are a very good team. They have quality players. They had a slow start, but are playing well right now.

“We will prepare as we usually do. I’m worried about what we do, not the opposition. We need to bring a high-intensity approach to the game, try to build on our strengths, nullify theirs and exploit their weaknesses.”

Article by Luca Cetta - @l_cetta