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Junior Navy Blues take aim at Tasman

Words: ACFC Media

Friday 28 October 2016

You wouldn't blame Junior Navy Blues coach Andy Peat for scratching his head as his team prepares for Tasman United - the team who scored five goals yet still lost a match in the National Youth League.

Tasman United were beaten 6-5 at home by Canterbury United in round one of the competition and trailed 5-4 at the break in an extraordinary match in Nelson.

"Its going to be a good challenge for us. Tasman started off with a narrow loss but were able to score quite a few goals in the process.

"We've looked at our match with Team Wellington and our defensive areas because Tasman will look to be an attacking team.

"We'll look to shut them down and hopefully capitalise on the 18 shots we had against Team Wellington.

"The question for us is can we convert those efforts into on-target shots and goals," Peat said.

The chief area of concern for Tasman United appears to be in transition after an attack breaks down and while Peat is eager for his team to exploit any weaknesses in the opposition he is also aware his young charges have much to work on.

"We've had to focus on getting our players back into the best physical shape as possible as they can be.

"A lot of the players have been away at the Napier U-19 tournament and a lot of them got physically smashed.

"We had a good light session on Tuesday with light stretching, rolling-releasing and we're now focused more on how we play as opposed to the clubs our players played with in Napier.

"Its good to have the players back in camp and refocused on what we want to do and the style and brand of play," he said.

Beating defending champions Team Wellington on their own ground gave the Junior Navy Blues an enormous confidence boost but Peat is quick to outline what he believes are far more important elements.

"The Team Wellington game was a big challenge but I've told the players I don't expect a perfect performance but I do want an improvement on what they did last time.

"These kids are still growing and that's what we've got to remember - these players are still kids.

"We're not here to play a style with a sole focus of "must-win".

"We're here to play a particular style of football and if that leads to a win then we're doing things right at Auckland City FC and we're preparing players for the first team," he said.

The match is scheduled for 1pm at Kiwitea Street on Sunday 30 October.

Entry to the game is free.

Ends

Extra Information

Match Details
National Youth League
Sunday 30 October, 2016
Auckland City FC v Tasman United
Kiwitea Street
Kick-off: 1pm

AC (from): 1. Cameron Brown (GK), 2. Sean Crombie, 3. Mitchell Watts, 4. Sione Fa'Apoi, 5. Connor Cahil-Fahey, 6. Yousif Ali, 7. Ignacio Machuca, 8. Jack Short, 9. Jack Anderson, 10. Clayton Lewis, 12. Moses Akimana, 14. Ermal Fusha, 15. Francis Cain, 17. Oliver Ceci, 18. David Masters (GK), 19. Maro Bonsu-Maro, 20. Seli Fuimaono, 21. Sean Cooper, 22. Leon Van Den Hoven, 23. Antonio Bonkovich, 24. Keegan Ashdown Inia (GK), 25. Dino Botica, 26. Phillipe Poletaev, 27. Cody Rickard.

Coach: Andy Peat