The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Wanderers gift Adelaide advantage: Djite

29th April, 2016
3

Western Sydney have gifted Adelaide United an advantage for the A-League grand final by opting against training at Adelaide Oval, Reds striker Bruce Djite says.

The Wanderers say they’re untroubled by not stepping onto the surface until just before Sunday’s kick-off.

But Djite, who trained with his teammates on the oval on Friday, disagrees.

“It is an advantage … it’s always good to have a familiarisation session on the field that you’re going to play the grand final on,” Djite told reporters.

Western Sydney had the option of training at the oval on Friday but instead had the day off – they flew from Sydney to Adelaide in the early afternoon.

The Wanderers will hold their final training session on Saturday morning at Adelaide’s home ground, Coopers Stadium at Hindmarsh.

Adelaide will then train at the Hindmarsh venue after the Wanderers in the last tune-ups for both clubs for Sunday’s decider.

Western Sydney have never played at Adelaide Oval, which hosts an AFL game on Saturday, but midfielder Andreu dismissed any concern.

Advertisement

“It’s not a problem. When we play away we never train in the stadium, and we are winning a lot of games away,” Andreu told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

But Adelaide’s Djite said the oval’s surface, renowned as being fast for football, takes some getting used to.

“It’s actually not too bad, the centre circle is a bit rough but I don’t think it will be too much of a concern,” he said.

“It’s the same for both teams as the old cliche goes, and it’s not disturbing us too much at all – it’s a good pitch.

“It will be a quick pitch, it actually tends to be quite quick. That is a good thing, that is not a concern to us.”

Adelaide Oval groundsmen will repair the surface and cut the grass following the AFL match between Adelaide and Fremantle on Saturday afternoon – the AFL orders the grass length be 28 millimetres, three millimetres longer than the maximum permitted by the A-League.

But Djite was more concerned with rallying Adelaide fans to give his side an edge.

Advertisement

“I do hope they bring their voices and their colours and make this place as intimidating as possible for the Western Sydney Wanderers,” Djite said.

“The energy they can give the players is phenomenal … to have 50-odd thousand here on Sunday, if they support well, then we’ll do the job.”

close