Focus shifts to domestic duties

Words: ACFC Media

Thursday 1 June 2023

Following their thrilling Oceania triumph in Vanuatu, Auckland City FC are back on home soil and straight into a long weekend double-header to kick off Round 12 of the Northern League against Western Springs AFC on Friday night, followed by a Chatham Cup derby clash against Auckland United FC on Monday afternoon.

The Navy Blues currently sit in third place on the Northern League table having played three games less than league leaders Eastern Suburbs, and two matches less than second placed Manurewa, meanwhile Western Springs, who have played three more rounds than City are in fifth spot, two points behind Albert Riera’s men.

City and Springs have met already ins the opening round of the 2023 domestic season with the Navy Blues recording a convincing 4-0 victory at Kiwitea Street.

On that day, an unlucky deflection off Springs defender Matthew Thomas into his own net gave the lead to the home side before Angus Kilkolly grabbing a brace and Emiliano Tade adding another to complete the scoreline.

The Navy Blues also boast an impressive head-to-head record over their Westmere-based rivals with four wins from as many encounters in which they scored 18 times.

Still riding high after their heroics to secure the club’s 11th OFC Champions League title City will be keen to carry on their winning ways but Riera is not underestimating the challenge ahead.

”We played them in the first round and you could tell they tried to do things very interestingly and after eleven rounds they are going to be much better, they are going to be gelling even more.

“I have been watching a lot of games from those guys and they try to do very interesting things so I know that we have to be at our best, because they have a very good team, I really like the way they play, so we have to be at our maximum because we want to win that game,” explained the Navy Blues coach.

Riera has also hinted at possible changes to his starting eleven in order to carefully manage the heavy workload of some of the players.

“The reality is that we have to be clever with those players who had to play 120 minutes in the OFC semi-final and another 120 minutes in the final, so we have to be very careful and wise in the way we will manage that load.

“The main thing is for those players to freshen up, and give some minutes to players who are fresh, because we will need fresh legs against Western Springs, a team that are very good and doing very well, we are very happy with winning the Champions League and now we want the three points for the Northern League.” said Riera

Ends

Match Details
Northern League Round 12
Friday 2 June 2023
Western Springs AFC v Auckland City FC
Seddon Fields, Westmere
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