Devonport beat Olympia 1-0 in pre-season friendly

Devonport City beat Olympia Warriors 1-0 in a pre-season friendly at Valley Road today.

The first-half goal came from 18-year-old Max Fitzgerald, who signed for Devonport from the Gold Coast.

Devonport were missing up to four first-team regulars, while Olympia sent a very young side to the North-West Coast.

The Southerners are still awaiting a couple of imports and some other senior players were unavailable.

“It was a really important first game to get under our belts and we won 1-0”, said Devonport’s new coach, Rick Coughlan.

“I was pleased with the performance all round and it was a very positive day.

“We were missing four key players so we had 16 of our 20-man squad.

“It was near full-strength, but still missing some.”

The game was played on the training pitch with the artificial surface at Valley Road.

Olympia were without Lucas Hill, Mark Ortmann, Jake Vandermey, Lachie Hardwick and Nick Mearns.

Olympia’s two goalkeepers, who had a half each, played very well.  Darby Randall was between the posts in the first half and new arrival from Western Australia, Kyle MacDonald, in the second half.

"I was very happy with the boys, particularly in the first half," said Olympia coach, Rob Clarke.

"MacDonald is very experienced and organises the defence well."

New English signing Jordan Scott, a holding midfielder, made his debut for Olympia and played well.

There is a pre-season friendly scheduled for KGV Park tomorrow [Sunday].

At 4pm, Southern Championship sides Beachside and Nelson will do battle.

Next Wednesday, Beachside will take on NPL Tasmania outfit Clarence United at KGV Park at 7pm.