Reigning NPL Tasmania champions Devonport City begin the defence of their title tomorrow when they host Olympia Warriors at Valley Road at 2pm.
The Warriors are
title favourites to many and this game is a crucial test of both sides’
credentials.
Devonport beat
Olympia 1-0 in a pre-season friendly, but not much can be gauged from that
meeting as Olympia were far from full strength and the game was played on a
small artificial pitch.
“We’re pretty
much at full strength with just one or two missing,” said Devonport coach, Rick
Coughlan.
“We’re confident
in our own ability and we’ve worked extremely hard over the past four months
and I think we’re in a really good place internally, as a squad and as a group.
“We’re quietly
confident about what we can achieve this year.
“[The 2-0 win]
was a pre-season game and it’s too early to take any real indication from that
sort of game. That was just about
getting minutes into legs.
“We’re confident
in our own abilities and against most of the teams out there.
“We’re feeling
extremely prepared and both on and off the field we’re taking things to another
level this year in terms of match preparation and player wellness and injury
management and the physical analysis, and all the things that fully prepare us
individually and collectively on the field.
“We’re in a
really good place and going in a good direction this year.”
Photo: Devonport will expect big things from goalkeeper Nathan Pitchford, arguably the best custodian in the NPL this season [PlessPix]
Olympia come into
this game after an opening win against South Hobart last Friday night.
They will make
two changes to their squad with Ben Curtis and Jonathan Mulungula coming in to
replace Joel Sammut and Jacob Leaman, who are both ill.
Warren Wadawu and
Ryan Cook are both still injured.
Warriors coach,
Rob Clarke, said the starting line-up will be the same as against South Hobart.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of
playing Devonport up there and we’ll be trying to bring the same intensity as
we did last week,” Clarke said.
“If we do that,
we hope to be competitive, which is our aim for every game.”
Newcomers to the
NPL, Riverside Olympic and Glenorchy Knights, will do battle tomorrow at 4pm at
Windsor Park in Launceston.
Both teams will
be keen to kick off their inaugural campaigns with a win.
Riverside will
miss midfielder Liam Gilmore, who has family commitments, but new Argentine
recruit, Luca Vigilante, will make his debut.
Vigilante’s last
club was Ferentino in the Italian Serie D, while he has also played in the
third-tier Spanish competition with Melista and in Greece’s second tier with
Kalamata.
Goalkeeper Jarrod
Hill is back in the side after missing most of the pre-season with a dislocated
finger.
Club captain
Ethan Olner will be playing his first-ever NPL match, while Mitchell Jones,
Jonathon O’Neill and Aaron Campbell have returned to the club after stints with
other NPL clubs. Their experience in the
top flight will be invaluable to Riverside in their debut season.
“Glenorchy have
been one of the in-form teams in pre-season and I know James Sherman quite well
and he’s a good coach,” said Riverside coach, Alex Gaetani.
“We expect them
to be in the top four or five clubs, but I think that being at home will help
us.
“We’ve prepared
really well and we’re in a good head-space and I think we’ll play at our best.
“Technically, our
players are at a high level and I pick players on their technical level first
and foremost.
“Glenorchy will
be a challenge for us.”
Photo: Much will be expected by Glenorchy Knights of their skilful midfielder, Alex Bellini [PlessPix]
Glenorchy Knights
will field much the same side that they have in pre-season friendlies, with
some players still missing.
“We won’t quite
be at full strength,” said coach, James Sherman.
“But, we’re in
reasonably good shape.
“It’s hard to say
how we’ll go as I don’t know too much about Riverside yet. It would have been nice if they’d played
Clarence last week and I’d got a proper look at them.
“I have seen them
play twice in pre-season But there’s not much you can really take from such
fixtures.
“We just focus on
ourselves and look to play to our strengths and keep it as tight as we can
defensively for as long as we can and work hard.
“That’ll be the
idea, for the whole season, really, regardless of who we’re playing against.
“We’ll treat
everyone with the same respect and we’ll go into every match with the same
attitude, whether it’s Riverside or Devonport.”
2 comments:
Think Riverside will beat knights 2-0 Devonport to win 2-1
For what it is worth, Walter, the pre season game against Olympia was on the white lined synthetic pitch which is the same dimensions as the grass pitch at Valley Rd. Hardly a small pitch. Also, the result was 1-0.
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