- Adelaide Comets Reserves have won three, drew one and lost one of their last five NPL South Australia Reserves matches, scoring 18 goals in that span.
- Adelaide City Reserves have won one, drawn one and lost three of their last five NPL South Australia Reserves games.
- Adelaide Comets (8th on ~19 points) are ahead of Adelaide City (10th on ~11 points).
An old-fashioned Adelaide derby is on
Adelaide City (10th) and Adelaide Comets (8th) are close in NPL South Australia, but they are a world apart in terms of style and substance in their respective Reserves grades. The visitors are far more methodical and possession-based under Vas Parhas, while the hosts are generally a more offensive side and much more free-flowing under Dimitri Panagis.
This game should offer up a classic possession versus counter-attack clash, with Comets sitting deep and looking to spring the trap while City will want to control the ball and win it back high up the pitch. City have the creative spark and end product in Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio, Domenic Costanzo and Nicholas Francese when available, while Comets have Andreas Wiens, Jack Bladen and Ninko Beric at the pointy end of the team.
Panagis' team have been on a fantastic run of form, winning three, drawing one and losing one of their last five (W-D-W-W-L), in which they thumped Playford Reserves 9-1 and West Adelaide Reserves 5-1. Their June goalscoring burst has been simply exceptional, and the forward players seem to be hitting a groove.
Comets have the edge in a potential classic
Comets are the clear favourites at 1.54, but City are well placed at 4.1 and the draw at 5.1 is also quite generous considering how much value Comets have to be having at present. The draw does look slightly more likely than a home win given Comets have conceded four goals to Adelaide United Reserves and four to Para Hills Reserves in the same run.
The head-to-head does lean towards Comets, who have won 14 of 26 games since 2015 (City won six, six draws), but their most recent clash was a 3-1 Comets win in 2022, while City got a 2-1 response in 2021. This is a derby and City have to push forward, so we think an alternative angle of both teams to score at 1.32 is the best way to play a game that will see a much improved City come up against a rampant Comets side.
Our main selection is still Comets to win, probably by a narrow margin, but there is enough in the game to suggest this game can be open and full of goals.
