In their first meeting in Adelaide, the match ended in a 1-0 victory for the Sydneysiders. D’Angelo’s side then suffered another 1-0 defeat in their next game against Bayswater City.

Since then, MetroStars seemed to have turned a corner after scoring their first goals of the campaign with a 2-1 win away to Sydney United last week.

“Obviously the boys are a bit more up and about [after the win],” he shared, “[There’s been] a lot of positivity — which there has been the past few weeks anyway.

“But obviously after a win, you’re a lot more positive … [and] we’re looking forward to taking on APIA.

“They’re very strong side,” he continued, “They’re going to be looking to have a strong performance as [it’s] a home game for them … but we’re focusing on ourselves [and] identifying where we went wrong against them last game.”

D’Angelo says the team has emphasised the importance of keeping a clean sheet this week — something they’re yet to achieve at this level — before adding that their newly found prowess at the other end of the pitch has instilled a greater sense of attacking belief.

“Now that we’ve got a couple [of goals] on the board, I think naturally we’ll be more confident in front of goal — we just had to kind of get the monkey off the back,” he said.

The defender missed the previous encounter with APIA due to his wedding being booked on the same day.

“So funnily enough, when we booked the wedding a year and a half ago, the Australian Championship dates weren’t released, so I thought, ‘October [is the] off-season, that’s usually pretty safe,’” D’Angelo recalled.

“Once we were progressing through the [NPL] season pretty strongly — we had a 10-point buffer — I said to my missus, ‘I don’t think we’re going to be going on a honeymoon,’” he laughed.

“Obviously I had to miss the game on the big day [and we] just spent two nights away in regional South Australia [before I] was back into training on the Tuesday night.”

Once back in Adelaide, D’Angelo watched the replay and saw a match that he believes was there to be won.

“They’re a team with a lot of talented individuals,” he admitted, “But as we saw on the weekend, they fell to Bayswater. So, we’re looking to do the same and get a nice, strong away win and send a bit of a message to the group.

“They’re obviously beatable and [in the] first round I think if we put some of our chances away, it would have been a very different game.

“We’re just going to have to match their qualities, their physicality and just be up for the fight.”

After a gruelling travel schedule, this will be the third and final match on the road for the South Australians during the group stage.

“It’s a good insight into how the professionals do it week in, week out — although they don’t have to juggle going work during the week,” chuckled D’Angelo, who also works as an analyst for the South Australian Government.

“But it’s been good fun and obviously good for team morale and getting to know each other that little bit more — you have some good laughs along the way too.”

D’Angelo and his new wife may have to wait a little longer for their official honeymoon, but the dates they’ve chosen speak volumes about the player’s belief in just how far his team can go.

“[We’ve] booked it post the grand final of the Australian Championship,” he revealed.

“Hopefully we’re playing in that one and then [my wife and I will be] spending a week away in Hamilton Island — [we’re] looking forward to that!”

APIA Leichhardt vs MetroStars kicks off at 1 p.m. AEDT (12:30 p.m. ACDT) on Sunday, November 2.