The stage is set for a cracking night of finals football, with a pair of hotly contested Preliminary Finals on the agenda for a place in the state’s biggest men’s and women’s matches: the RAA NPL and WNPL Grand Finals. Strap yourself in for an action-packed evening!
PRELIMINARY FINAL: WEST ADELAIDE VS ADELAIDE CITY
VENUE: VALO FOOTBALL CENTRE
DATE: FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER, 7:00 PM
2021 HEAD-TO-HEAD:
- Round 21 (01/10/21): West Adelaide 2 – 2 Adelaide City
- Round 13 (20/08/21): Adelaide City 0 – 1 West Adelaide
- Round 2 (17/04/21): Adelaide City 1 – 1 West Adelaide
The first kick-off of the evening pits second-placed West Adelaide against third-placed Adelaide City in a clash between two of the perennial challengers for a shot at the championship against Salisbury Inter next weekend.
Neither side entered the finals in imperious form but thoroughly deserve their spot amongst the final three left standing, with clear daylight between them and the rest of the competition in terms of points won throughout the season.
It was a match to forget for West last weekend, as they were subject to an Inter demolition job in the Qualifying Final that finished 6-1 to emphatically quash any hopes of progressing straight through to the Grand Final.
The damage was done early on in the contest, as by the time Christine Hillyer opened West’s account in the 57th minute with a fine finish from Georgia Macri’s cross, they were already six goals down with the contest all but over.
It’s easy to forget that last weekend was only their third loss of the season, though, with none of those taking place in their previous three encounters against City in 2021, so there’s still plenty of reasons to maintain strong self-belief entering tonight’s contest.
City managed to successfully navigate their tricky elimination final against NTC, with a 1-0 victory all they needed to book their place in tonight’s Preliminary Final and keep their championship dreams alive.
Alana Fitzsimmons’ skilful strike just before the break was the difference between the two sides, as she muscled her way under Alyce Macauley’s floated long ball and controlled it with one touch before taking a second to dummy the keeper and rolling the ball into an empty net.
Despite finishing 12 points behind tonight’s opponents in the table, City will take confidence from their last outing against West which finished 2-2 to show that they can still match it with the powerhouses in the competition.
There aren’t any more second chances for either side, with the carrot of Grand Final action dangled firmly in front of both West and City as they duke it out to stay alive and take on Inter next weekend.
West Adelaide line-up: Erin Murphy, Nadia Sultani, Laura Johns, Georgia Macri, Maddie DuRieu, Alison Atkins, Christie Hillyer, Harriet Burnett, Lucy Adamopoulos, Ellie Seaton, Georgie Nicola, Stefanie Lang, Elena Psaroulis, Zoe Haralampopoulos, Emily Hodgson, Justine Hall, Nicole Tilley (C), Khatima Sultani, Siena Covino
Coaches: Tracey Jenkins, Alex Macdonald, Alice Gorman, Leanne Davis
Team Staff: David Lewis, Lachlan Hall
Adelaide City line-up: 1. Kendall Jenner (GK), 4. Daniela Di Bartolo, 5. Alyce Macauley, 8. Alanah Ursino, 10. Chelsie Dawber, 11. Isabel Hodgson, 13. Sophie Leszczynski, 14. Chrissie Zikos, 15. Bianca Gray (C), 16. Isobel Dahlen-Flight, 17. Tiarn Powell, 18. Alana Fitzsimmons, 19. Shae Blackwood, 20. Abbey Lucas (GK), 21. Mikayla Vidmar, 23. Natalie Frantzis, 28. Anastasia Nuttall, 38. Matilda Mcnamara
Coaches: Jamie Dunning, Nicholas Whiteside
Team Staff: Seymour Di Bartolo, Alexander Tan
PRELIMINARY FINAL: ADELAIDE COMETS VS STURT LIONS
VENUE: SA ATHLETICS STADIUM
DATE: FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER, 8:30 PM
2021 HEAD-TO-HEAD:
- Round 20 (04/09/21): Adelaide Comets 4 – 0 Sturt Lions
- Round 9 (19/06/21): Sturt Lions 1 – 1 Adelaide Comets
The men’s Preliminary Final is a fixture few could’ve predicted as recently as a couple of weeks ago, as minor premiers Comets host fifth-placed Sturt for a shot at championship glory against Adelaide City next weekend.
It’s very much been a tale of two finals series, and indeed two seasons as a whole, for the sides battling it out tonight, but all of that has led to what could potentially be the crowning moment for one club and heartbreak at the final hurdle for another.
Comets’ defeat to Adelaide City in their two-legged Semi-Final was a disastrous one, with a 2-0 aggregate lead at half-time of the second leg (played at their home ground of SA Athletics Stadium) turning into a 3-2 deficit at the full-time whistle, denying them direct passage to the decider.
Thomas Giannakopoulos’ powerful header past the keeper from a pinpoint Ryan Yates set piece handed them the lead on the night before half-time, but conceded just after the restart and twice in the final ten minutes to put paid to their hopes of a weekend off.
It was their first defeat in eight matches, a streak stretching back to Round 17 in August, which will perhaps provide them with the impetus to rebound this weekend and reach their third successive NPL Grand Final.
Sturt survived their second successive penalty shootout in their victory over South Adelaide last weekend that finished 2-2 (6-5 on penalties), having progressed via the same route in their elimination final triumph over MetroStars the week prior.
Samed Altundag put the Lions in front with 72 minutes on the clock and again with a swerving piledriver from 30 yards in the first two minutes of extra-time, but were made to wait for James Klappers to save two penalties to send them into the next round.
It’s been a remarkable run for Sturt, who only returned to the top flight this season and entered the finals off the back of some shaky form but now find themselves only 90 minutes (or 120 plus penalties) away from a Grand Final berth.
As for tonight’s contest, there’s all to play for: win, and your tickets are booked for next weekend’s massive clash with City. Lose, and the season is over at the final hurdle. If there’s one thing for certain, though, it’s that both sides will have goals on their mind.
Adelaide Comets line-up: 1. Julian Torresan, 3. Manley Barnett, 4. Nathan Dimou, 5. Adam Le Cornu, 7. John Karatzas, 8. Ryan Yates, 10. Anthony Mavrolambados, 11. Jayden LoBasso, 12. Lukas Ikonomopoulos, 14. Nathan Andijanto, 15. Ryan Cook, 16. Ninko Beric, 18. Thomas Giannakopoulos, 21. Nikolas Ikonomopoulos, 22. Allan Welsh (C), 23. Scott Nagel, 24. Lachlan Stead, 31. Daniel Vaughan, 77. Chris Christofilos
Coaches: Barney Smith, James Guffogg, Andreas Wiens, Matthew Bates
Team Staff: Evangelo Katsambis, Andrew Furner, Emma Gericke
Sturt Lions line-up: Akira Kobaishi, Jonathan Fusco (C), Michael Marrone, Taine Harding, Toby Nelson, Nicholas Horsburgh, Samed Altundag, Luke Fusco, Jasper Donovan, Cooper Mullins, Ben Woollard, Jack Locke, Alexander Sortini, James Klappers (GK), Romeo Kemsley, Jacob Atkinson, Samuel Voigt, Cale Nagle, Caden Yates, Daniel Snobl, Brandon Centofanti, Valentino Esposito, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Daniel Solari, Bradley Davey, Daniel Guastella
Coaches: Lino Fusco, Frank Tibaldi, Gregory Videon, Michael Harkness
Team Staff: Andrew Ross, Jakson Messent