Northern Rangers meet Clarence United at the Ulverstone Showground at 2pm on Saturday in the intrastate Premier League top-four finals series.
This game was postponed last weekend and is the only outstanding game before the semi-final fixtures are confirmed.
Rangers carry the northern banner as the other three semi-finalists - South Hobart, Hobart Zebras and Glenorchy Knights - are all from the south.
“The boys will go into the game with a little more at stake than usual because we are the only northern side than can progress to the next round,” said Rangers coach, Roslan Saad.
“I hope the boys will be able to match the intensity that Clarence showed in the recent cup final.
“The last training session of the season was attended by 22 players and, as coach, I couldn’t have asked for more.
“We have averaged 25 players at training this season, which has been an excellent response.
“I hope we can play at Birch Avenue as the alternative venue will be Ulverstone and wouldn’t want Clarence to have to travel all that way.”
Luke Tuma, Luke Connors and Mark Ambrose will be missing for Rangers as they are not one hundred per cent fit.
Rohan Pooley will have his first start after a knee injury suffered at the beginning of the season.
Stefan Jago, a promising under-18 player, has also been called into the squad.
Clarence should be at full strength and will probably field the same side that beat Northern Rangers 2-0 in the recent Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy final.
Chris Hunt should cause Rangers plenty of problems down the flanks with his speed, while Luke Cripps and Ben Hamlett will be a threat up front.
The Clarence back-four is a well-drilled unit and should be able to contain the Rangers strike force.
1 comment:
was going to tip rangers on their home turf but now its been shifted i am backing CU to win.
if they do it means all southern semis and a wasted 2 weekends for all involved as we are back to where we started in the south!!
all the while the northern teams have no 'final' to play in. pointless competition.
bring back the state premiership (one of FFT's good ideas of recent times) and forget this token knock out cup please.
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