Balance key for Junior Navy Blues for Wanderers clash

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 9 November 2017

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Blending development and competitive aims remains a delicate but important balancing act for Aaron McFarland as his Junior Navy Blues take on Hamilton Wanderers at Kiwitea Street on Sunday.

After knocking over formerly unbeaten Canterbury United last week to move into a three-way share of first place – level with Wanderers and Wellington Phoenix U-17s with seven points from three outings – the Junior Navy Blues now face a crucial fortnight with home games against that pair.

And while sights are clearly set on challenging for league honours, McFarland and his staff also keenly aware of the bigger picture of developing players capable of graduating into the first team and the juggling act that those twin aims sometimes requires.

“Everyone wants to win games and be contending for trophies but trying to balance those shorter-term aims with long-term development is obviously a big consideration in a youth side,” he said.

“We’ve got quite a big squad and we want to ensure that people who have earned the right get game time. We might have what we think is our best 11 but we need to balance giving those players a chance to test themselves in this league with giving opportunities to players who have been working hard and not just sticking to the same 11 every week.”

After settling for a point in their opening encounter with Southern United the Junior Navy Blues have won two on the trot including a welcome derby victory over Waitakere United at the Trusts Arena.

Last week, Antonio Bonkovic, Justin Bailey, Sione Fa’apoi and Dino Botica shared the goals in a 4-2 win over Canterbury.

McFarland is satisfied with the way the team are progressing week to week.

“The staff are quite happy with the progress that we’ve made. With youth players you’ve got to pick where you want to make your improvements and where you want to focus so for us that has been on the Auckland City style in possession and we’ve seen some quite big improvements in that area. And then each week the game will highlight other areas we need to tweak as well.”

The team have a full squad to choose from this week with no fresh injury concerns and Thomas Drillien back to full fitness after missing the last two weeks with a knock picked up at the Napier U-19 tournament.

The National Youth League match against Hamilton Wanderers kicks off at 4.30pm on Sunday and follows the ISPS Handa Premiership match between the same teams earlier in the afternoon.

Ends

Match Details
National Youth League
Sunday 12 November 2017
Auckland City FC v Hamilton Wanderers
Kiwitea Street, Sandringham
Kick-off: 4.30pm NZST
#ACvHW
#ISPSHandaPrem
#WhereAllWhitesAreMade
#JuniorNavyBlues

Auckland CIty FC Youth: (from) Cameron Brown (GK), Robert Tipelu, Wilson Van Der Veen, Dino Botica, Hugo Kidd, Oscar Spragg, Antonio Bonkovich, Jaylen Rodwell, Jack Anderson, Leon Van Den Hoven, Michael Soffe, Seli Fuimaono, Josh Jones, Oscar Browne, Zac Ballentyne, Justin Bailey, Sione Fa'Apoi, James Dunn (GK),Thomas Drilien, Jack Duncan, Callum McNeil, Josh Oliver, Ricardo Yougovich, Nick Burke (GK), Solomon Granger, Thomas Golding, Matt Ellis.