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Juniors take aim at Team Welly

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 13 October 2016

Picture: ACFC Media

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - A painful reminder of how close the margin between winning and losing can be in football greet the Junior Navy Blues when they open their National Youth League campaign this Sunday.

The youngsters finished second behind Team Wellington last season despite beating them and rattling home 41 goals as the competition's top scorers.

Now with a new coach in Andy Peat there is fresh hope the Junior Navy Blues can return to the top as they chase their first title since 2014.

Peat saw his side earn a 2-2 draw in their last pre-season friendly against Eastern Suburbs and was reasonably satisfied with the way his team shaped up.

"The Eastern Suburbs match was a good test to measure how far the players have come over the past month.

"I've been impressed with our tactical discipline and our growing ability to evolve in a match.

"We've been working on developing a style of play that emulate the senior team and enables players to progress and I believe that process is very much on track.

"As always there is a lot of work to be done with the team but we have to be pleased with how we're coming on,"" he said.

But despite the pleasing work on the training pitch Peat says its been far from easy with winter football coming to a close much later than last season.

"Managing the end of season Lotto NRFL player commitments with our training regime has been very important so that players do not breakdown with injuries and are well managed in all environments so they can optimally perform.

"Its been a short pre-season. We have players from a variety of clubs and varying levels of club experience so we've been learning about them as individuals.

"Its an important factor that has helped drive our training sessions and the players ongoing development. Its a very big learning experience for the players from a tactical point of view and we have taken the players into the learning pit and progressively developing the players technically and tactically," he says.

One player who could make an impact this season is Jack Anderson. Anderson was on target twice in the draw with Eastern Suburbs.

But defending may be the area the Junior Navy Blues are vulnerable after a 5-2 pre-season loss to Waitakere United.

The Junior Navy Blues only win of pre-season came when they downed Hamilton Wanderers 1-0.

Ends

Match Details
National Youth League
Sunday 16 October, 2016
Team Wellington v Auckland City FC
Memorial Park, Petone
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

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