All roads led to the Limestone Coast on the weekend, as several top Adelaide soccer teams travelled to the region to compete in the Hahn Australia Cup.

Limestone Coast Football Association teams Gambier Centrals, Apollo, International, Naracoorte United and Portland all took on teams from Adelaide’s State and National League with some mixed results.

On Saturday night Apollo hosted NPL side Adelaide Croatia Raiders and were outmatched by the premier side, losing 15-0.

In the other Saturday night match Gambier Centrals hosted State League 1 team Adelaide Olympic at MGA Park.

Centrals battled well against Olympic, even getting a goal against them thanks to new recruit Daniel Crossing.

Despite the goal Centrals still came up short as the visiting side claimed victory 5-1.

The final game on Saturday was in Naracoorte with Naracoorte Uniting taking on State League 1 team The Cove FC. The Adelaide based club was far too good for Naracoorte, winning 16-0.

On Sunday Inter and Portland took the field with Inter taking on SAASL side Adelaide Titans at Casadio Park with Portland hosting the Croydon Cougars.

The Panthers had a tough match against the Cougars as they suffered a 13-0 loss.

Inter had a great battle against the Titans where they held their own for most of the game, going down 2-0 at halftime and holding that scoreline in the second half to finish with a 2-0 loss.

Limestone Coast Football Association chief executive Bruno Vadori said the weekend was great for exposure with the Adelaide clubs competing in the region.

“It’s great exposure for us and not looking at the results because it’s great for our league to play against higher competition,” he said.

“It’s a chance to better ourselves more than what we normally would playing against ourselves.”

Vadori said it was beneficial the games were held in the Limestone Coast on the weekend.

“Not having to travel to Adelaide was a bonus,” he said.

“in any sport most of the time we have to travel to Adelaide to get any help or to play games and carnivals, and to get to play at your home ground against some of these fantastic State League 1 teams and to showcase your talent and spectators I think is awesome.”

Vadori thought the crowd numbers for the games were solid considering the hot weather the South East experienced on the weekend.

“There were a couple that had probably not as much as expected, but with the heat that we had on the weekend it did effect that,” he said.

“The games at 6pm were good because it had cooled down a bit, but it was still a good show with people coming out at night to have a look.”

Overall Vadori was pleased with the participation from the clubs despite being outmatched against the Adelaide sides.

“I find it very good these clubs are putting their hand up and trying in the competitions,” he said.

“We know they’re probably outgunned in a lot of these games, but to give experience to some of our youth and to have the ability to go out there and have a go at something like this is awesome to see that we’re allowed too.”

Vadori also thought that developing relationships between the local clubs and the Adelaide sides was another highlight from the weekend.

“Another great thing is the relationship with the Adelaide clubs, most of these teams stayed in town, they had meals with the boys after the games and you start talking to people from different clubs and different areas,” he said.

“People move away from Mount Gambier, Portland and Naracoorte and people go to Adelaide for uni and other things like that so it’s the connections we’re making with the clubs that was another great thing.”