Opposition Focus: Southern United

Words: ACFC Media

Saturday 21 October 2017

This week Opposition Focus takes us inside the Southern United camp as we preview Sunday's opponents.

CLUB INFO:
FORMED: 2004 (as Otago United)
NICKNAME: Southern
STADIUM: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Tahuna Park, Sunnyvale Park
CAPACITY: 30,748
MANAGER: Paul O"Reilly

MATCH INFO:
DATE: Sunday 22 October 2017
KICK OFF: 2pm
VENUE: Sunnyvale Park, Dunedin
COMPETITION: ISPS Handa Premiership Round 1

MATCH STATS:
ISPS HANDA PREMIERSHIP RECORD
POSITION: 10th
PLAYED: 18
WON: 3
DRAWN: 1
LOST: 14
FOR: 20
AGAINST: 41
POINTS: 10

PREVIOUS MATCHES:
22 February 2017 v Auckland City FC (A) lost 1-3
13 November 2016 v Auckland City FC (H) lost 0-1

LAST 5 SOUTHERN UNITED RESULTS
19 March 2017 v Tasman United (A) lost 2-5
4 March 2017 v Hawke's Bay United (A) lost 1-2
22 February 2017 v Auckland City FC (A) lost 1-3
19 February 2017 v Team Wellington (H) lost 1-3
12 February 2017 v Eastern Suburbs AFC (H) lost 0-1

TEAM NEWS
Mario Bilen is ruled out of action for up to 12 weeks with a medial ligament knee injury picked up in the loss to Team Wellington last week.

Marko Dordevic is recovering from a niggling injury.

Southern United squad: Liam Little (GK), Tom Stevens, Stephen Last, Conor O’Keeffe, Kristian Gibson, Tom Connor, Alex Cox, Niklas Ordenewitz, Roland Balla, Danny Ledwith, Michael Hogan, Jared Grove, Hamish Cotter, Morgan Day, Jack Pirie, Andrew Ridden, Aidan Barbour-Ryan, Danny Furlong, Ben Wade, Omar Guardiola, Garbhan Goughlan, Cody Brook

Coach: Paul O’Reilly

FAST FACTS
Sunday's game will be the 31st clash between Auckland City FC and Southern United with the Navy Blues notching 25 wins, 3 draws and just 2 defeats.

Southern United have lost 13 matches in a row to the Navy Blues dating back to Round 5 in the 2010-11 season when they held the Aucklanders to a 0-0 draw in Dunedin.

Southern United's only victories over Auckland City FC came in Round 5 of the 2004-05 season in a 1-0 win at Kiwitea Street thanks to a goal by Jean Victor Maleb. They repeated that result in Round 17 of the 2005-06 campaign when a Francesco Caruso goal proved the difference. Southern United have failed to win in 24 matches ever since.

Auckland City FC's biggest win over Southern United came in 2013-14 season when they defeated the Dunedin-based outfit 10-0 at Forsyth Barr Stadium on February 16, 2014. The scorers that day were Emiliano Tade (2), Joao Moreira, Darren White (2), Takuya Iwata, Adam Dickinson, Chris Bale, Andrew Milne and Ryan De Vries.

SEASON TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW