Sydney United 58 FC coach Mark Rudan has dismissed concerns over complacency ahead of his side’s blockbuster National Premier Leagues Semi Final against Queensland’s own Olympic FC this Saturday at QSAC.

With home town Olympic FC considered underdogs for the match, Rudan said his side weren’t getting ahead of themselves following a less than stellar performance in qualifying for the do-or-die Semi-Final.

The semi-finalists experienced markedly different results in their preparations – United defeating Canberra FC 2-1 in hard fought qualifier at Sydney United Sports Centre, while Olympic were humbled 11-1 by a rampant Brisbane Roar in an exhibition match at Goodwin Park.

Rudan said regardless of Olympic’s return against Roar his side were expecting a typically hard-fought semi-final Saturday evening.

“It won’t be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. I saw the result against Roar last week and I’m not reading anything into that at all,” a quietly confident Rudan said.

“We’re not going to be complacent that’s for sure. We have to work extremely hard and be disciplined and play right til the final whistle.”

Rudan said while he was happy to get the result against Canberra FC, he was less than impressed by the performance on the pitch.

“That was probably one of the worst performances we’ve put together,” he confided.

“It was good to get off to an early start, but perhaps could’ve been one of the worst things we did as well because I felt some of the players let off the peddle a little bit and the intensity wasn’t there.”

“The result was good though and I think good teams are usually able to pick up results even when they don’t play well.”

He said he was confident his charges would again be up to the task against the NPL Queensland Premiers and Grand Final winners.

“I’m not big on pinpointing certain players, but they have got some decent players, some with A-League experience as we have as well.”

“They’ve scored a number of goals in their league, they’ve also conceded a number of goals and that’s definitely somewhere where we’ll be looking to expose.”

“I have been doing my homework, as I do with every opposition, and there is certainly something there that we can expose, but saying that they are the team that won their competition.”

Rudan conceded that travelling interstate was “a bit of an unknown” for his squad and he was unsure how they would respond.

“We did do it in preseason against Melbourne Knights, as we do every year, and came away with a win, albeit in preseason.”

“The players at the club are really excited by the challenge of the competition and excited about travelling.”

Rudan, who spoke glowingly of the new competition at the NPL launch in Sydney at the start of the year, said he was pleased with the progress made by the NPL in its first year.

“I’m very, very excited. It’s a great initiative by the FFA and all the clubs involved in this competition have really taken to the format.”

“The boys are really looking forward to this one – it’s the first of its kind and it’s only going to get bigger and better,” he concluded.

The winner of Saturday’s Semi-Final will play the victor of Sunday’s second Semi-Final between South Hobart FC (Tasmania) and Campbelltown City (South Australia) in the inaugural NPL Grand Final.

A venue for the Grand Final will be determined by results in both Semi-Finals.

Match Details:

NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUES FINALS SERIES – SEMI FINAL
Olympic FC  v Sydney United 58 FC 
Saturday, 5^th October, 2013 – QSAC
Kick-off: 6:00pm

 

Words: Michael Flynn (Football Queensland)
Image: Sydney United 58 FC