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City eye Wednesday night clash with Manukau

Words: ACFC Media

Tuesday 13 June 2023

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC are back in action on Wednesday night against Manukau United FC at Mangere Centre Park to complete Round 11 of the Northern League, in a catch-up match which was postponed last month due to the Navy Blues' OFC Champion League commitments in Vanuatu.

It has been a busy period for Albert Riera’s men who have refocussed their attention to domestic matters in both the Northern League and the Chatham Cup just days after returning from their successful Oceania title defence.

The Navy Blues’ next assignment on Wednesday night comes quickly after Saturday's hard-fought 1-0 Northern League victory over Bay Olympic but the City coach says the congested fixture-list is not any issue for his side.

“We a re getting into a spell where winter is here, at night times sometimes it’s going to be wet, sometimes not the best pitches but it doesn’t matter, we don’t want to make excuses.

“I’m going to pick the players who really want to fight every game, they don’t mind about wet nights and all that, if at the end of the season you want to play in the grand final you have to do this now.

"We have to be prepared mentally and physically, we have a big squad, good depth and those who put their hands up will be the one playing,” explained the City coach.

These two sides have faced each other four previous times in the Northern League with City winning on three occasions as well as being forced to settle for a 2-2 draw in June 2021.

The Navy Blues also defeated Manukau 6-0 in Round 3 of the Chatham Cup last year and recorded a 2-0 victory in a friendly encounter back in 2020.

City currently are in second place on the competition ladder, nine points behind league leaders Eastern Suburbs, but they have three games in hand and a win on Wednesday night would reduce the gap to just six points between the top two.

On the other hand, Manukau sit at the bottom of the competition table with one win, three draws and seven defeats from their eleven Northern League matches so far this season.

Despite the contrasting forms of the two sides, Riera is adamant his players will not underestimate the challenge ahead.

And he wants to see an improvement from the Navy Blues' last outing against Bay Olympic on Saturday night.

“One of the strengths of this team is the depth and the way we play which gives you some rest on the ball, we didn’t do that (against Olympic), I thought we ran more than we should have but against Manukau we will do what we have to do, keeping the ball better and making them run and they are going to get tired and we won’t.

“It’s all bout implementing what we want to do, it’s not about excuses about back-to-back matches, we don’t do that, we are good enough to deal with those things, we are coming from Vanuatu where we played three games in a week in 40 degrees, so no excuses, we are not about excuses, we are about doing the job.”

If selected against Manukau on Wednesday night, Adam Mitchell will reach an important milestone with 100 appearances for the club, while Gerard Garriga is looking for his 50th game for the Navy Blues.

Ends

Match Details
Northern League Round 11
Wednesday 14 June 2023
Manukau United FC v Auckland City FC
Mangere Centre Park, Mangere
Kick-off 7.30pm NZST

AC SQUAD (SEASON 2023): 1-Conor TRACEY (GK), 2- Mario ILICH, 3- Adam MITCHELL, 4-Christian GRAY, 5-Michael DEN HEIJER, 6-Dan MORGAN, 7-Cam HOWIESON (c), 8-Gerard GARRIGA, 9-Angus KILKOLLY, 10-Dylan MANICKUM, 11-Ryan DE VRIES, 12-Regont MURATI, 13-Nathan LOBO, 14-Jordan VALE, 15- Aidan CAREY, 16-Joseph LEE, 17- Ilham HAMEEDI, 19-Liam GILLION, 20- Emiliano TADE, 21- Adam BELL, 22-Tong ZHOU. 24-Joe WALLIS (GK), 25-Takuya IWATA, 26-Rayan TAYEB, 27 Stipe UKICH

COACH: Albert RIERA
ASSISTANT COACH: Ivan VICELICH
GK COACH: Enaut ZUBIKARAI
TECHNICAL: Adria CASALS
TECHNICAL: Jarrod WALLACE
LOGISTICS: Keith COTON
PHYSIO: Matt PAYNE