United looks to give Sydney the blues

Adelaide United will be looking to back up last week’s 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory when they take on Sydney FC tonight at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The teams head into Rivalry Round on the back of mixed results after Sydney went two weeks without a win, going down 2-0 to reigning Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar.

Reds’ Coach Rini Coolen says playing Sydney is always special and is encouraging fans to come and witness both teams’ attacking brands of football.

“I know that games against Melbourne Victory are seen as the most important games for our supporters, but if you look back at the past, Sydney versus Adelaide United have been very important games, so hopefully there are a lot of people at the ground and they will see an entertaining football match,” Coolen said.

Despite never having faced Sydney FC before in his short A-League career, Andy Slory knows the two teams were fierce rivals during the league’s infancy.

“I’ve heard some stories about Sydney as well and that Adelaide United and Sydney FC were the two best teams in the early years, so we’re going into it like we’re playing Melbourne Victory, but now we’re playing Sydney and we want to win this game and I hope that everyone will be here in the stadium again,” Slory said.

The twenty-nine-year-old Flying Dutchman has called on United’s fans to come out in force for the game and be the Reds’ ‘twelfth man’.

“I hope our supporters here can come every week and give us that same feeling that they gave us last week (against Melbourne) because they helped us a lot,” he said.

“They gave us a massive boost and I love playing in that environment.”

Rini Coolen believes Adelaide will have to be at their best to defeat Sydney and says he’s wary of a Sky Blues team looking to get their season back on track.

“I know how it feels if you don’t start the competition the way you want and they’ve got a very good squad with very good players and a very good coach who knows exactly what he’s doing,” Coolen said.

“You need a win in the early weeks to get some confidence but they are still a very good team and they will be looking for a victory, so we will definitely have to focus because it is going to be a difficult game.”

Injury clouds hang over both teams this weekend with Bruce Djite ruled out for two weeks, while Ukranian midfielder Evgeniy Levchenko is in doubt after suffering a calf strain.

Meanwhile Sydney will hand Ivan Necevski a place in the starting line-up after first-choice
goalkeeper Liam Reddy failed to recover from a quad injury.

Tonight’s match kicks-off at Hindmarsh Stadium at 5.00pm local time.