Welcome home game for United

SOUTHERN United will have racked up plenty of air points over the past two months.

Seven games into its national football premiership season, it has played just once at home.

To be fair, a second home match, against Auckland City, was abandoned just after halftime.

But two home games in eight is hardly much better.

Still, Southern has yielded 10 points — seven from the six away matches and three at home against Tasman United.

The team hosts Canterbury United at the Caledonian Ground on Sunday and it will no doubt be thankful for the easier trip to the game.

‘‘It’s been tough on the team,’’ club CEO Chris Wright said.

‘‘We don’t like to make excuses, but the travel and the number of away games — especially when you’ve got backtoback weekends of overnight stays — is quite a challenge for the team.

‘‘We’re really proud of how they’ve handled it.

‘‘We’re happy with what we’ve got on the board so far, although we’re always aiming for more.

‘‘We’ve got aspirations to put on some good football for our home fans this weekend at the Caledonian and get three points, obviously.’’

Wright said the availability of home grounds was one key reason for the tough stretch.

The club had made some compromises to get more games at its two venues — the Caledonian Ground and Forsyth Barr Stadium — that met Fifa licensing requirements.

Those licensing requirements came as a result of the national competition leading to the OFC Champions League and, ultimately, the Fifa Club World Cup.

The requirements included having covered seating, a physio room, drug testing and adequate changing facilities.

The team was splitting its games between those two grounds, as well as Sunnyvale Park.

Wright said personal preferences for ground varied among the team.

Southern is scheduled to play three games at Forsyth Barr Stadium in January, before returning to Sunnyvale Park in February.

Sunday’s game against Canterbury United will be the last game before the twoweek Christmas break.