Devonport City and South Hobart should continue to set the pace in the NPL

Photo:  South Hobart coach Ken Morton praised Clarence coach Warren Burt at today's media conference [PlessPix]

Devonport City, who are top of the table in the NPL Tasmania competition, should have few problems when they host bottom side Clarence United at Valley Road 2.15pm tomorrow.

It should be Devonport’s fifth win from five outings, while Clarence come into this game after losing 13-0 to South Hobart last weekend.

Clarence don’t travel well and usually have players missing, so their chances are zilch.

They will have new signing from Zebras, Lachie Burt, but his presence will not be enough to swing the scales in Clarence’s favour.

South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, heaped praise on Clarence coach Warren Burt at a media conference today, saying that Burt deserves plaudits for the tremendous character the club has shown this season.

He said Burt was doing a good job in a difficult situation and he seems to have the players on-side.

“If he can get good turn-ups at training and get everybody fit, then he may change things around,” Morton said.

“He’s done a marvellous job with them in the short term, so let’s see what happens over the rest of the year.”

Morton said he would not have included Clarence in this year’s competition and would have given them two or three years to sort themselves out and redevelop and grow their youth again.

“Clarence have been a formidable football club over many years and they had good juniors, but the juniors and the youth structure are not there and you’ve got to have that to build your club and develop your first team.” Morton added.

South Hobart are away to Glenorchy Knights at KGV Park at 8.15pm today.

“It was an easy game for us on the weekend, but it won’t be tonight,” Morton said.

“We’re expecting a tough game and it’ll be a physical battle as well.

“I think both sides will want to play good attacking football and there’s some quality individuals in both sides who will produce that as well.

“I think it should be an exciting game of football.

“I think they’re [Knights] well on the way.

“They have assembled a strong squad and that’s the important thing, so they’ve gone through a period where they’ve had a few injuries and they’ve been able to manage that and be very competitive and they’re going forward well, so I would expect a really tough game tonight from them.

“They’ll be ready for us, I’m sure, and we’ve got to be prepared for them and match them and better them.”

South Hobart will include new arrival Iskander Van Doorne in the squad after he trained last night following his arrival from Canada.

Van Doorne played with Hobart Zebras last year.

South also have a couple of 15-year-olds on their substitutes’ bench and they may get a run if things are going well.

Photo:  Knights' Declan Brown (left) and South Hobart coach Ken Morton at a media conference today [PlessPix]

Fourth-placed Glenorchy Knights are 3 points adrift of second-ranked South Hobart and striker Declan Brown is confident of a good showing.

“We respect South and know they play good football, but we’ve got a game plan tonight and we’re going to stick to that,” Brown said.

“We know that we can score goals as a team and we feel confident we can do that against any team.

“Nothing changes tonight, really.

“We’re just going to go out with loads of energy and really go at them.

“James [Sherman] has been working on it all year [the game plan], really, and it’s about playing positive football, moving the ball forward quickly and creating lots of chances and scoring as many goals as we can.

“I think that’s our strength.  I think we’re doing a good job of competing in the NPL, week after week.  It’s a tough game.

“In the Championship, it was one or two every year.  The biggest thing this year is getting up and about for those big games every single week and I think we’re doing a good job competing with the bigger sides and I think we’re moving towards doing that every week now.”

Photo:  Declan Brown is in good goalscoring form for Knights [PlessPix]

In other games this weekend, Olympia Warriors, who are fifth, host third-last Riverside Olympia at Warrior Park tomorrow at 4.15pm, while third-ranked Hobart Zebras entertain sister club Launceston City, currently second-last, at KGV park tomorrow at 4.30pm.

With only two games scheduled in the south, it’s annoying that the two games are being played at roughly the same time.

They both involve northern teams, but surely it would have been better to have them at times when football followers could get to both matches.

NPL Tasmania (As at 23 March 2019)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Devonport City	4	4	0	0	9	1	12
South Hobart	5	3	1	1	22	5	10
Hobart Zebras	4	2	2	0	15	3	8
Glenorchy Knights	5	2	1	2	13	10	7
Olympia Warriors	4	2	1	1	7	5	7
Kingborough Lions	4	2	0	2	11	6	6
Riverside Olympic	4	1	0	3	4	10	3
Launceston City	4	0	1	3	5	11	1
Clarence United	4	0	0	4	0	35	0