U-23 draw with Takapuna

Words: ACFC Media

Saturday 18 March 2023

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Auckland City FC U-23 finish pre-season with a 1-1 draw with their Takapuna U-23 counterparts at the Croatian Cultural Society on Saturday.

The City youngsters featured first teamer Adam Bell in their ranks but that was not enough to help guide Valerio Raccuglia's team to a victory as they took a share of the spoils.

City opened the scoring through Matthew Matanayire only for the Navy Blues to concede a soft goal to level the match.

Louie Danielson, now in his third campaign with the U-23 team, was disappointed with the result.

"We created a lot of chances but didn't take them and we felt disappointed with the outcome.

"Everything felt flat but I'm sure we'll improve when the season starts next week," he said.

Auckland City FC U-23 played two games in just three days, including a 5-0 away win in Auckland's west on Thursday, so perhaps fatigue had something to do with it.

Coach Valerio Raccuglia wasn't happy with the performance.

"The boys were a bit flat and it was not the result we were looking for but now we have one week to be ready for the season.

"We created plenty of chances which was a positive but everything was straight at their goalkeeper.

"Everything has come together very quickly in pre-season with a lot of cancelled friendlies so now we focus on Western Springs U-23," he said.

Ends

Match Result
Pre-season friendly
Saturday 18 March 2023
Auckland City FC U-23 1 (Matthew MATANYAYIRE)
Takapuna U-23 1 (UNKNOWN)