HE showed his class with a quick-fire hat-trick last week but Blacktown winger Mitch Mallia won’t be heavily targeted by the South Coast Wolves on Sunday at WIN Stadium.
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A former A-League player with Central Coast and Sydney, Mallia scored all of his team’s goals in a 3-2 defeat of Sydney United.
Despite the 22-year-old’s eye-catching start to the season, South Coast coach Nahuel Arrarte hasn’t geared his team’s defence to stopping one man.
‘‘They’ve got a couple of key players and he’s definitely one of them, but we can’t just focus on him,’’ Arrarte said.
‘‘They’ve got danger players like Joey Gibbs and Danny Choi. Their frontline’s very quick.
‘‘We have to worry more about ourselves and make sure each individual in our squad does his role properly.’’
Mallia played 18 A-League games in two seasons with Sydney and joined Blacktown last year.
He is no stranger to Arrarte.
‘‘I played with Mitch and I’ve known him for many years because he was a junior coming through when I was playing at Marconi,’’ he said.
‘‘He’s quick and very calm on the ball, but as I said, we’re not going to just focus on one player. It’s more focusing on ourselves and making sure we do the little things right, and building on that. We want teams worrying about our players.’’
The Wolves didn’t start their 2015 campaign on the right note, going down 3-0 to a 10-man Sydney Olympic last Sunday at Belmore Sports Ground.
Arrarte is counting on a far more committed effort against Blacktown.
‘‘The boys know themselves that, first and foremost, our intensity and attitude on the park is paramount,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re back home and we just need to put on a performance for the crowd. We’re away for four weeks after this game, so it’s important that we get a good result. The boys have been working really hard at training, so I’m really keen to see how we go on Sunday.’’
The Wolves will stick with their usual up-tempo attacking game.
‘‘From our perspective, we have to back ourselves,’’ Arrarte said.
‘‘We’ve never been a defensive side. Even last weekend, Olympic scored two late goals from us trying to get forward and have a go in the last 10 minutes.
‘‘Obviously defensive structure is important, but we don’t approach games with a defensive mindset. Especially being at home, we’ve got nothing to fear. We have to go for it.’’
Meanwhile, the Illawarra District League kicks off with this weekend’s opening round.
Kiama host Picton on Saturday, Coniston is at home against Balgownie, Berkeley Sports are away to University, Fernhill host Helensburgh, Oak Flats are away to Thirroul, while Wests Illawarra host Kemblawarra. Completing round one is Corrimal’s home clash with Warilla on Sunday.
The Illawarra Premier League season gets under way next weekend.
