Defence the key to a win in Canberra

Football

AN EMBARRASSMENT of riches in the final third has forced new Yoogali Soccer Club coach Sante Donadel into converting a handful of attacking players to plug a defensive shortage.

YSC heads to the nation's capital tomorrow to take on Canberra City FC in a friendly match in which most of the focus for Donadel will be at the back.

Taking over from Ryan Spencer, who has chosen to concentrate solely on playing this season, the new boss said he was looking for players to follow in the footsteps of reformed striker Grant Davidson, who now plays as a stopper for YSC.

"He's a perfect example of what I'm looking for. He knows what positional play is and what to do," Donadel said.

"Grant went from centre forward to the back four and was one of our best players last year.

"Surely I can train a couple of other guys to do the same thing, as well."

The need became apparent to Donadel following last weekend's 1-1 draw with Canberra City's under 20s side, who travelled to Griffith for the fixture.

The most gaping holes are at left and right fullback, and Donadel said he a selection of players would get the chance to audition for these vacancies against Canberra City.

"The way the game is going, the fullbacks are very attacking players anyway - just with some defensive responsibility as well," he said.

"I'm just trying to get them to focus on defence more than anything else, because we've got a very good attacking team - but defence let us down as a unit last week.

"But we've got a bit to work on in attack too. I don't want them to go 100 miles an hour all the time, I want them to be patient and make the right passes.

"We've got to focus on keeping our structure and making sure we just move around properly, and put pressure on the other team when they have the ball."

Two new Scottish imports will also make their club debuts on Saturday - one is a striker, the other is a midfielder, and Donadel said both looked sharp at training this week.