The side will take on a strong Waitakere United team at Fred Taylor Park, as it looks to pick up its first competition points of the national football league. Coming off a 3-1 home loss to Canterbury United, the team was hopeful of delivering a better performance to get their campaign back on track.
"The response [to the loss] has been good," coach Paul O’Reilly said.
"The lads have worked really hard this week. We’re positive we can, hopefully, get a result."
Waitakere United has won two of its three games this season, including a key 1-0 win over Auckland City. That left those two sides tied on top of the table on six points, along with Eastern Suburbs. It boasts a talented line-up with experienced players in the likes of Jake Butler and Ian Hogg, and Dan Morgan will be a big threat.
"I think for us to break Waitakere down, it’s going to have to be really good play.
"They’re not particularly vulnerable; they’ve got strong players all over the park.
"They’ve scored a lot of their goals from set pieces, corner kicks and free kicks, and Dan Morgan will be a handful with his pace.
"But I don’t think they’re world-beaters, so we’ve got to go in with a positive mind-set and, hopefully, we’ll be able to get a result."
After the team went down 1-0 with a penalty after 90 seconds last week, O’Reilly said it was important it did not concede early. Southern had found itself chasing the game from that point onwards, with goal-scoring opportunities proving to be few and far between. Meanwhile, Canterbury found space up the middle and proved to be a constant threat.
"We’ve tried to tidy up our defensive shape and also looked at being a bit more creative in the opposition’s half. We didn’t create enough chances against Canterbury."
The side would be without last week’s goal scorer, lively Irishman Eric Molloy, who picked up a knock on his knee during the game. He was not expected to be missing long term. Meanwhile, Luis Pavia had a hip injury and Sam Collier was away with university commitments. Jude Fitzpatrick, Tennessee Kinghorn and Sam Cosgrove would come into the match-day squad.
"We’ve got a couple of new guys coming in; it’s their first time in the squad for one or two of them. They’ll have to hope they get game time and impress. But we’ve got a decent squad, we’ve got lads that are training really hard, so I’m confident the lads coming in will do a good job."
Southern United v Waitakere United
Sunday, 1pm, Fred Taylor Park
Southern United: Liam Little, Ross Howard, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Last, Danny Ledwith, Conor O’Keeffe, Michael Hogan, Harley Rodeka, Tennessee Kinghorn, Andy Mulligan, Sam Cosgrove, Cam Higgins, Jude Fitzpatrick, Cam McPhail, Chris Kessell.
Waitakere United: Primin Strasser, Scott Hillier, Stewart MacKay, Julyan Collet, Harrison Nash, Stefan Thelan, Ryan Tinsley, Dylan Stansfield, Eder Franchini Pasten, Ian Hogg, Dan Morgan, Ryan Cain, David Parkinson, David Icardo Hernandez, Dylan Manickum, Jake Butler, Tom Shaw, Keegan Linderboom, Adulla Al-Kalisy, Lewis Caunter, Jake Porter, Liam Anderson.
