Olympia's Jordan Scott is one of the best imports currently playing in Tasmania

Photo:  Olympia's Jordan Scott has scored either 3 or 4 goals in the NPL this season [PlessPix]

Olympia Warriors midfielder Jordan Scott was relieved with his side’s 3-1 win over Hobart Zebras on Sunday.

Scott opened the scoring but says the Olympia goal committee have denied him the goal as they claim it took a deflection.

“They probably just don’t want to pay me the goal bonus,” he said, tongue in cheek.

Sunday’s win was some consolation for the previous Sunday’s 5-2 defeat to South Hobart in the semi-finals of the Lakoseljac Cup competition.

“More than anything, I think we all owed the manager a good performance,” Scott said.

“We were shocking the week before.  Everything that could have gone wrong for us, did.

“Yesterday was a massive, massive turn around for us.  It was a great confidence booster, I think.

“That’s exactly what we’re capable of. It’s what we expect, really, from ourselves.  We set ourselves some high standards now.  We’ve got to continue that for the remaining weeks and, hopefully, we’ll still be in the mix come the end of the season.”

Photo:  Jordan Scott was shattered by the loss to South Hobart in the Lakoseljac Cup semi-final [PlessPix]

Scott said coach Rob Clarke was not furious at the players after the defeat to South Hobart.

“Rob’s quite a positive guy,” Scott said.  “He’s a good coach to be around and he wasn’t too disheartened by the South Hobart defeat

“He could tell from the players’ reactions how disappointed we were and I think he was keen to stress that that shouldn’t define our season.

“I think that’s probably the only bad game we’ve had, really.  He was just quite keen for us to stay positive and to move us forward and to just remind us that we are still in the race and there’s a lot of football to be played and that we can still absolutely push Devonport all the way, and South Hobart as well.

“I’m sure they’ll [South Hobart] be well in the mix.  They’re coming in to some good form and I’m sure it’s going to make for an interesting second half to the season.

“I think, yesterday, if we’d lost, that would probably would have been it for us.

“We needed to win, and we got the win, and it keeps putting pressure on the teams in and around us, and especially Devonport above us.  I think they’ll be worried to kind of shrug us off.”

Photo:  Jordan Scott feels Olympia could have beaten Devonport at Warrior Park [PlessPix]

Devonport beat Olympia 2-1 at Warrior Park on 18 May, but Scott has strong views about that result.

“Against them, I thought for the first 45 minutes, we absolutely dominated.” He said.

“We just didn’t take our chances, but that proved to us we can definitely compete with them.  We just have to stay the course and, hopefully, come the end of the season, we’ll have done enough just to pip them.”

Scott believes the Lakoseljac Cup Final could prove to be a potentially awkward distraction from the league race for South Hobart and Devonport.

“It would have been nice for us to have that distraction [a cup final], but it wasn’t to be,” he said.

“It will cost one of the two teams in the league that are in and around us.  It could leave the door open for us if they do that [are distracted] and then we’ll certainly be hot on their heels and ready to press on.”

Photo:  Jordan Scott is an all-round midfielder for Olympia [PlessPix]

Scott believes Olympia’s home form must be reproduced away from home.

“Everyone goes on about our scruffy plastic pitch and how bad it is, but it’s home to us and obviously teams don’t like coming there and it’s only been one team that’s got something from there so far,” he said.

“It [playing at home] will play a big part, but we know we have to improve our away form as well.

“We can’t just win our home games.  We’ve got to be better on the road and, hopefully, pick up some more points, which will continue to push us on.”

As far as the Lakoseljac Cup Final is concerned, Scott is tipping South Hobart to win.

“I fancy South,” he said.  “I really do.

“I just think they’ve got a bit more quality.  I think on the day, South can win.  If they do what they did to us and they press the way they do, I just think Devonport haven’t quite got enough to beat them.

“But, I wouldn’t like to see South win.  I’d love Devonport to do it, but I think South will win.

“It’s just the rivalry there [between Olympia and South Hobart].  It’s the same as Manchester United not wanting Manchester City to win anything.  I think it’ll be a good game for the neutrals.  It’ll be interesting.

“South have just come off a 5-2 win and Ben Hamlett has made a difference for them.  He’s their star, really.

“He gives them that energy as well.  When we played them in the first round, they just didn’t really have that.

“He runs as hard as he does in the first minute as in the 92^nd minute.  He’s horrible to play against.  He’s a great finisher.”

Photo:  Jordan Scott comes up against Zebras' Nicky Edwards last Sunday [PlessPix]

Olympia are away to Clarence United at Wentworth Park next Saturday at 4.30pm in their next game.

Scott hasn’t played there yet, but is looking forward to it.

He was told Wentworth Park is a pitch really open to the elements and beside the River Derwent.

“I don’t know what the pitch is like as I’ve never been there,” he said.

“I’ve heard it’s windy and wild, so it should be fun.”