The NPL Tasmania title chase is rapidly developing into a two-horse race after the weekend’s matches.
Current league-leaders Glenorchy Knights downed Riverside Olympic 5-0 at home at KGV Park, while second-placed and reigning champions Devonport Strikers scraped home 2-1 away against Clarence Zebras at Wentworth Park.
Third-placed South Hobart and fourth-ranked Kingborough Lions United lost ground when they drew 3-3 at Kingborough’s Lightwood Park headquarters.
Second-last Launceston City managed their second win of the season when they disposed of fifth-placed Olympia Warriors 2-1 at home at Buckby Motors Park.
That increased the gap between Launceston City and bottom-side Riverside Olympic to 5 points, which calms City’s nerves somewhat.
Knights, who without the injured Nick Naden and Pajari Sculthorpe, played midfielder Nick Mearns at centre-forward, while Riverside were missing the suspended trio of Fletcher Fulton, Tom Prince and Todd Mitchell. In addition, Luca Vigilante was out through injury.
An Eli Luttmer header from a corner in the 12th minute put Knights ahead, but it was not until stoppage time at the end of the first half that they increased their lead. A foul on Austin Yost earned Knights a penalty and that was converted by Luttmer.
Cade Smith made it 3-0 midway through the second half, but it wasn’t until the final 8 minutes that Knights scored two more goals to complete the 5-0 win.
In the 82nd minute, a free-kick by Yost deep on the right found Lucas Hill at the far post and he nodded the ball down for debutant Kalvin Pitt to score on his first senior appearance.
In the 87th minute, Callen Griffin set the ball up nicely for Yianni Skalkos to hammer home a first-time shot and complete the scoring.
Luttmer also rattled the crossbar with a tremendous shot.
Riverside, to their credit, never gave in and launched some promising attacks, one of which resulted in a shot coming back off the left-hand post.
Some of their build-ups involved good team-work and showed potential, but they were too often bereft of ideas in the final-third.
How they could have used former player Nathaniel Atkinson, who the next day, scored in Melbourne City’s 3-1 A-League Grand Final win over Sydney FC and was named as the Joe Marston Medal winner as the player-of-the-match.
Riverside didn’t lack courage and they even tried to run the ball out of defence at times rather than kick it long, but they were outclassed by the Knights in the end.
Knights showed they have depth and promising youngsters and they remain title favourites in the eyes of many people.
Devonport Strikers were missing Joel Stone, Miles Barnard and Charles Bidwell when they took on Clarence Zebras, whose star, Riley Dillon, was interstate on holiday with family. With new Covid restrictions coming into force over the weekend, the question is, will he be able to return soon? Dillon is Clarence Zebras’ main goalscorer and it would have been interesting to see what he could have done against a Devonport outfit that were clearly vulnerable on the day.
Clarence Zebras shocked the visitors by scoring after just 3 minutes when Ryan Cook sent a free-kick over the wall and into the net past an unsighted Nathan Pitchford.
Devonport came back strongly and earned a penalty when Jordan Lamb was brought down in the box. Clarence Zebras goalkeeper Josh Jones was up to it, however, and beat out Brody Denehey’s spot-kick. Denehey was first to the loose ball but he thumped the ball against the underside of the bar and from the rebound it was sent into orbit to let the home side off the hook.
Nine minutes after the resumption, Jordan Payne, who was given a run in attack in the absence of the three regulars, justified his inclusion by heading home a corner to equalise.
Devonport dominated the second half as the home side appeared to run out of puff.
It took until 7 minutes from the end before Denehey atoned for his penalty miss by scoring the winner to keep his side in touch with leaders Glenorchy Knights, who are a point ahead.
Two goals in 5 minutes late in the first half gave Launceston City a 2-0 lead at the interval over the Warriors.
Yasin Mohammadi struck the first in the 32nd minute and Daniel Smith made it 2-0 in the 37th.
Kyle Vincent kept up his fine form this season by reducing the arrears in the 54th minute, but the visitors were unable to find an equaliser.
The prolific scorer Kasper Hallam fired South Hobart into a 2-0 lead against Kingborough within the opening 21 minutes at Lightwood Park, but former South Hobart striker Ben Hamlett gave the Lions some hope by pulling a goal back 2 minutes before the break.
Another former South Hobart giant, Kobe Kemp, made it 2-2 6 minutes into the second-half, while Adam McKeown finally put the Lions’ noses in front when he scored their third in the 59th minute.
South Hobart skipper Nick Morton ensured his team of a point when he equalised 11 minutes from the end and made it 3-3.
That result appears to have ruled the Lions out of title contention, while South Hobart are still in with a chance but will have to make every post a winner from now on.
NPL Tasmania results:
Clarence Zebras 1 (R Cook 3’) lost to Devonport Strikers 2 (J Payne 54’,B Denehey 83’)
Launceston City 2-1 Olympia Warriors
Glenorchy Knights 5 (E Luttmer 12’, 45’ pen, C Smith 66’, K Pitt 82’, Y Skalkos 87’) beat Riverside Olympic 0
Kingborough Lions United 3-3 South Hobart
NPL Tasmania (As at 26 June 2021)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
10 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
38 |
10 |
26 |
|
Devonport City |
11 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
22 |
10 |
25 |
|
South Hobart |
10 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
25 |
12 |
21 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
11 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
22 |
22 |
17 |
|
Olympia Warriors |
10 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
18 |
25 |
11 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
10 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
19 |
30 |
7 |
|
Launceston City |
10 |
2 |
1 |
7 |
8 |
26 |
7 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
10 |
0 |
2 |
8 |
16 |
34 |
2 |
