I hate to say it, but Launceston United and Riverside Olympic are as good as gone.
They are propping up the rest of the NPL Tasmania field with almost a third of the league season completed and there is no evidence that things will improve.
Kingborough Lions and Clarence Zebras are slipping a bit and will need to stabilise their ships if they to challenge for a top-four spot.
They are still within range of the bottom two, but to continue the nautical terminology, they are slowly disappearing over the horizon.
South Hobart seem to have found their mojo in the past two weeks and are scoring goals galore.
Launceston City look promising, but against the lower teams. There is a much tougher confrontation looming - away to South Hobart this weekend.
Glenorchy Knights had their third 1-0 league win in a row. But a win is 3 points, so who is complaining?
And Devonport? Business as usual. Top of the standings and scoring the most goals with Roberto Garrido’s and Ali Dulleh’s names up in lights.
Knights downed Clarence Zebras 1-0 at KGV Park on Friday night, courtesy of a cracker of a goal from Kyle Vincent.
In the 13th minute, the kid went on a long cross-field run from left to right before unleashing a pile driver that rocketed into the top left-hand corner of the net with Clarence Zebras keeper Josh Jones airborne but clutching at thin air.
Clarence Zebras were well-served by their tall, left-footed Argentine, Xuan Cappellino. He nodded on a some high balls that put his team-mates through the Knights defence, but without reward.
Riley Dillon had the best chance when he found himself through and with only Knights keeper Jackson Gardner to beat, but he shot straight at the keeper with the whole goal at his mercy. It’s these ones that you must put away if you are to win football matches.
Knights also had a penalty appeal turned down, so it could have been 2-0.
Eli Luttmer was back as captain and at the heart of the defence, so it was a good night for the Knights.
Launceston City scored three goals in 10 minutes on either side of half-time against Launceston United on Friday night through Toby Anderson (37th), William Humphrey (44th) and Mason Smith (48th), which probably shows the need for teams to concentrate fully as half-time approaches.
United pulled a goal back through David Owusu in the 52nd minute, but that’s as close as they got.
Owusu is proving to be a good performer and one wonders what he could do in a better side.
On Saturday, South Hobart thrashed Riverside Olympic 6-0 away at Windsor Park to make it 13 goals in two games for the southerners.
Nick Morton, the skipper, hit a hat-trick, while Bradley Lakoseljac, Sam Berezansky and Jackson Dent were the other marksmen.
Ali Dulleh notched a hat-trick for Devonport in the 5-2 win against the visiting Kingborough Lions United at Valley Road.
Charles Bidwell had opened Devonport’s account after a quarter of a hor, only for Phil Kantzos to equalise with in a minute.
Ali Dulleh restored Devonport’s lead on the half-hour and made it 3-1 7 minutes before the interval.
Toby Barton netted in the 42nd minute to give the North-West Coast side a 4-1 lead at the break.
Dulleh completed his hat-trick 8 minutes after the resumption but even Kobe Kemp’s goal for Kingborough in the 62nd minute was not enough o spark a revival by the visitors.
It was almost as if last weekend’s 2-1 win by Devonport over the Lions in the Lakoseljac Cup had been a reconnaissance mission and one designed to soften up the opposition before this league beating.
NPL Tasmania
Glenorchy Knights 1-0 Clarence Zebras
Launceston City 3-1 Launceston United
Devonport Strikers 5-2 Kingborough Lions United
Riverside Olympic 0-6 South Hobart
NPL Tasmania (As at 6 May 2023)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport Strikers |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
21 |
6 |
16 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
1 |
15 |
|
Launceston City |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
11 |
8 |
12 |
|
South Hobart |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
8 |
10 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
14 |
12 |
8 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
6 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
17 |
17 |
6 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
6 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
24 |
3 |
|
Launceston United |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
22 |
0 |
4 comments:
Same old story year after year
That's a cracking photo of the Kyle Vincent thunderbolt, Walter.
Sounds like you can concentrate on covering the Championship league Walter.
Much closer than the NPL league.
Kingborough continue to intrigue me. Always can take points from teams above them; but just can’t make that move forward. This year they are moving down! They never seem to consolidate. Hope they can turn things around. Still not sure re playing coach role.
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