Adelaide United coach John Kosmina is looking forward to reigniting the heated rivalry between his Reds and Melbourne Victory on Friday night at AAMI Park.
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina is looking forward to reigniting the heated rivalry between his Reds and Melbourne Victory on Friday night at AAMI Park.
The interstate derby will be Kosmina’s first in charge since returning to the hot seat in mid-December.
The clash will also earmark new Melbourne coach Jim Magilton’s first at the helm having only touched down in Australia six days ago.
Magilton who had coaching stints with Queens Park Rangers and Ipswich Town, will take control of the Melbourne side for the remainder of the season after former coach Mehmet Durakovic was sacked last week.
Kosmina who is no stranger to the intensity the interstate clash creates having played his part in one of the more infamous derby incidents with former player now Victory assistant Kevin Muscat, hoped tempers would flare like the rivalries of old.
“A little bit of the old rivalry might come back but it will be a little bit more tempered as well,” Kosmina quipped.
“I would hope that the Melbourne Victory fans turn on in numbers – big numbers – with them having a new coach.”
Kosmina said he would not settle for a draw against what is expected to be an inspired Melbourne having returned to winning ways on under interim coach Muscat last week, suggesting it was important his Reds did not rest on their laurels away from home but rather attack the game for a positive result.
“I don’t think you go (away) and play for a draw, I don’t believe in this ‘home and away advantage’,” Kosmina declared.
“In terms of how you go about things away from home you’ve got to try and play as long as you are aware of the opposition’s strength and weaknesses.”
“From out a point of view though we want to get what we do right and want to do what well, because I think you can spend too much time worrying about the opposition … You can do it so much sometimes you think you’re playing Barcelona.”
“It’s another game we have to do well in and even if we don-t get the result we want, as long as we start to show some structure, some commitment and some consistency in terms of how we approach the game then we’ll develop comfortably.”
With Magilton yet to experience and coach an A-League match, let alone a derby, the pressure could build on the Northern Irishman who has 12 games to show why he deserves the gig long term.
Although having gone through a similar circumstance just last month, Kosmina was unsure of the expectations and pressures on the man from Belfast, but said it was a risky move to import a coach who had little knowledge of Australian football.
“I heard he’s a bit old school so that will probably suit the likes of Muscy (Kevin Muscat) … but I don-t know if he’s under any pressure,” Kosmina said.
“I suppose if you coach Melbourne you are always under some sort of pressure given the history of the club in terms of achievement.”
“It’s a big step for him to come from Northern Ireland all this way to a league which he basically knows bugger all about, so he’ll just probably sit back and try and work out who and what belongs where.”
Adelaide received some welcome news on the eve of the clash with vice-captain Cassio set to return to Adelaide on Thursday night to complete the final stages of his injury rehabilitation.
The diminutive Brazillian is expected to return to training in late January.
However the Reds’ injury list only continues to grow with former captain Jon McKain set to spend at least six weeks on the sidelines in a knee brace after suffering from lateral cartilage damage sustained late on in the match with Wellington Phoenix on December 30.
Midfielder Spase Dilevski (groin) is slowly recovering and should be back in a week, although defender Milan Susak (hamstring) will not return until the end of the month.
