Message From Danny

Hear from our Head Coach Danny Graystone before tomorrow's match against South Adelaide.

Welcome to Round 17 of the NPL 2023 season.

Tomorrow we welcome all the supporters and officials of South Adelaide Football Club to TK Shutter Reserve.

We have experienced a couple of real challenging fixtures over the past couple of weeks with teams now fighting for survival and every other club jostling for position to achieve a finals spot for the 2023 season.

Last time we were here Croydon came here with every intention of knocking us off and despite us dominating the game a couple of defensive lapses saw us go 2-0 down - the first time we have conceded 2 goals in a game since Round 6 when we received that early send off against the Adelaide United Youth team. The team however showed composure and continued to control the game creating numerous chances eventually pulling the game back level. Despite a couple more late chances and a late penalty claim we came out with a well deserved point showing some real determination and character to keep ourselves at the top of the table.

Last week we travelled to West Adelaide, a team fighting for survival in the bottom 2 on a surface at Adelaide Shores which is always difficult to play on for footballing sides. We again saw ourselves conceding 2 goals with an early defensive lapse of concentration and a dubious penalty either side of a goal from Fabian Barbiero seeing us 2-1 down and having once again to show some character to get the 3 points. This time our domination of the game saw us get the 3 goals needed to come back with a late goal from Austin Ayoubi settling a contest that we dominated from start to finish keeping us at the top of the table and 10 point off Adelaide United in 3rd position.

Tomorrow we welcome one of my old teams South Adelaide Panthers who despite some really strong early season form find themselves battling for survival to stay in the division going into the final 6 rounds. South Adelaide will provide another difficult challenge for us today, as they did when we played them early in the season and we have been working hard all week to make sure that we once again tighten up at the back and don’t allow teams a chance to get into the game against us.

We wish South Adelaide the best for the remainder of the season and hope that following todays fixture that they can get over the line and secure NPL football for the 2024 season as it is essential we have representation from the South of Adelaide in the NPL competition.

Next week we travel back to what seems like our home from home at Service FM Stadium for the Federation Cup final against Campbelltown City as we look to bring home our first silverware for the season against our closest rivals. It will be a very difficult challenge and we will need a show of support from the MetroStars faithful to get behind the team.

As always though we are focussed on todays game and getting the 3 points against a strong South Adelaide side. The league is and always will be our priority and it is essential that our focus is on the game today and putting in a strong team performance.

We hope that you enjoy the game and as always, thank you for your support and lets get behind the boys tomorrow as we look to get another win and continue our fight for the league championship

Yours in football

Danny Graystone