Hills United are alive and kicking
Hills United are hoping their free-flowing, attacking football brings them the first of what it hopes will be a strong run of giant killings when they take on Hakoah Sydney City East FC in the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32.
The PlayStation® 4 National Premier Leagues New South Wales Men’s 2 side blasted 25 goals against their four opponents while qualifying for the national rounds of Australia’s premier cup competition.
The lower-league outfit conceded eight goals over those same four games, but United star Greg Giovenali does not expect his team to change their ways just because they’ve drawn a higher-level opposition in the cup.
“No matter who we got in the draw, be it Hakoah, an interstate or A-League side, we would have been the underdogs,” Giovenali said.
“So our style is our style. We’re very positive with the ball and we’re structured to be very attack-minded. It’s not just something we’ve done in our cup games, we do it in the league too, so we’re not going to change our style because we’ve drawn Hakoah.”
Giovenali said that while an interstate challenge would have been welcome, his club are not underestimating Hakoah – who have a very rich history themselves.
“I think when you get to this stage you probably dream of the interstate game or the A-League team for something different, but from a football perspective the draw was irrelevant, we were always going to get a tough game,” he said.
“And you only have to look at what Hakoah have done over the last couple of years. They’re a very well-organised club. They made light work of the lower divisions and they’ve been the NPL1 for a couple of years now.
“We’re just a little team from the north-west of Sydney. But we’re going to go out there and try and put on a display that makes the whole Hills football region proud.”
Representing the Hills, as one of Sydney’s fastest growing football regions, is of the utmost importance to Giovenali and Co.
“There has been a real focus on ensuring the first grade team at Hills is largely comprised of local boys,” Giovenali said.
“We’ve got players who have come back from other clubs because it’s an exciting time to be playing your football for Hills United, and this cup run has only helped that.
“I think there’s a really good vibe in the area. It’s an exciting time to be part of football in this area. Not just at Hills United, but across the whole Hills Association.
“We’re a local team, and we’ll be playing [Hakoah] at Lilys Football Stadium, which is our home for now and we’re thrilled. We hope we can put on a display to make everyone associated with Hills football proud.”
And with plenty of inspiration to take from the last couple of seasons of FFA Cup football, Giovanelli said he hopes his club can write another chapter in the young history of the competition.
“The cup just gets better every year,” he said.
“We take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Canberra Oympic FC last year. Everyone wants to be the giant killer, and we hope we can do that against Hakoah.”
Match Details
Hills United v Hakoah Sydney City East
Wednesday 26th July – 8pm
Lily’s Football Centre, Seven Hills
*Official hashtag #HILvHAK
-By Matt Galea
