Sydney FC’s unbeaten first grade National Premier League New South Wales Men’s squad will take on APIA Leichhardt at Rockdale’s Ilinden Sports Complex in a top of the table clash this Sunday (6.30pm).
The young Sky Blues, who represent the top tier of Sydney FC’s Academy, are the only unbeaten team in the competition with three wins and two draws from their five games.
So far the squad has defeated Northbridge Bulls (3-2), Marconi Stallions (1-0), Sutherland Sharks (4-3) and succumbed to late equalisers against with Manly United and Wollongong Wolves (both 2-2).
With an average age of 18, Head Coach Jimmy van Weeren Is delighted with their progress so far.
“We’ve had players performing well on an individual level at both ends of the field,” said Van Weeren.
“If we play to our potential every week, we’re capable of winning every game we play and being a young team the challenge is to manage that consistency across the course of a long season.
“We’d have a 100% record had it not been for two injury time equalisers in two of the games but having said that I’m still very pleased with squad right now.”
The squad are also the leading scorers in the competition but van Weeren is under no illusions as to the task at hand against APIA.
“They have an mix of experience and players who they’ve brought in ,who bring some real goalscoring qualities this year.
“We just need to capitalize on our opportunities we create and a minimize their threats as best we can.”
“A lot of the teams we play against have A-League experience and to compete against some quality semi-professional players who are physically superior is the challenge we face every week.”
Such has been the success of the NPL squad over the past few weeks, Van Weeren is bracing for a number of the squad to be promoted into the Isuzu Ute A-League Men’s team.
“It’s exciting and rewarding for us and the next challenge is that we will expose 16-year old players In the NPL squad,” he concluded.
Sydney FC’s full Academy are in action on Sunday at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Complex starting with the under 13’s at 8.30am.
