Friday, July 17, 2020

Opening round of NPL Tasmania tomorrow heralds some exciting clashes

Photo:  Knights coach James Sherman will not be able to use new signing Joffrey N'Koso against the Lions [PlessPix]

South Hobart will be without new signing Andy Brennan when they host Launceston City at South Hobart Oval at 2pm tomorrow.

Brennan is in quarantine until next Wednesday after arriving in Tasmania from Victoria.

He will resume training after that and should be ready to play next weekend.

Veteran Mark Moncur retains his place in goal and coach Ken Morton will retain the side that beat Launceston United 4-2 last week in the Lakoseljac Cup.

Morton said he may make a couple of changes to the players on the bench.

“We want to rotate players and freshen players up,” Morton said.

Morton said he has watched Launceston City and considers them to be a good side and one that will test his team.

He is particularly impressed with left-footed midfielder Rob Gerrard.

“I watched City last weekend and they’re a good side and the Gerrard lad is one of the best players I’ve seen in Tasmanian in quite a while,” Morton said.

“He came from Queensland and was with Northern Rangers last year.”

Launceston City caused raised eyebrows last week when they knocked Devonport City out of the Lakoseljac Cup so they should be formidable opponents for South Hobart.

Olympia Warriors took the goalscoring honours in the Lakoseljac Cup last weekend when they beat second-tier Beachside 10-1 and they should be too strong for Clarence Zebras at Wentworth Park at 4.30pm tomorrow.

Olympia have lost striker Joffrey N’Koso to Glenorchy Knights, but he didn’t play against Beachside anyway.

Jacob Herbert, who came on as a substitute and scored, will miss this game with a hamstring strain.

Striker Ben Hamlett netted five goals against Beachside and he should cause the Clarence Zebras defence some headaches.

“We trained quite lightly this week, but I think we’ll be fine,” said Olympia coach, Andrew Brown.

“I don’t underestimate Clarence Zebras, although I think Matty Pace will be out suspended after picking up a red card last week.

“We’ll have the same team, the same line-up and the same system and style.”

Clarence Zebras have been hugely disappointing in recent friendlies and they were beaten 5-1 away by Kingborough Lions United in the Lakoseljac Cup last weekend.

Coach David Smith must be frustrated at his team’s efforts and he will need to come up with something special if Olympia are to be overcome.

Glenorchy Knights travel to Lightwood Park for a 6.30pm showdown with home-side Kingborough Lions United.

Knights will welcome back centre-back Oscar Thomas from suspension, while Harry Anderson is back in the squad, as are youngsters Fred Lagu and Harrison Huigsloot.

New signing from Olympia, Joffrey N’Koso, will not play as he was not cleared in time by Olympia for him to be registered by Knights for this weekend's game.

Knights coach, James Sherman, said Olympia had done everything by the book and the deadline for Knights to register N'Koso could not be met.

Sherman is pleased with Knights' progress and is looking forward to the game against the Lions.

Kingborough Lions United coach Jez Kenth was delighted with his side’s 5-1 win over Clarence Zebras in the Lakoesljac Cup last weekend and hopes for a good performance against the Knights.

Kingborough’s Moses Khasif is out for the long term after damaging a knee in a friendly against New Town White Eagles a couple of weeks ago, while Tim Baker returned to the USA before the COVID-19 shutdown.

Spaniard Javier Verdu Sanchez had knee reconstruction surgery a coiploe of months ago and is back in Spain.

Photo:  Adam McKeown (left) joined the Lions this week [PlessPix]

The Lions signed striker Adam McKeown from Clarence Zebras this week and he is expected to be named in the squad.

“We’ve got bad numbers at the moment because we’ve lost ten players from last year,” said Kingborough coach, Jez Kenth.

“We got a bit of confidence from the win against Clarence Zebras, but there’s no doubt that Knights are a formidable side and one of the main contenders for the title.

“We’ve done all right at the Den, though, and we hope we can continue that way.

“The boys are reasonable happy and that’s the most important thing and if they can play at their best they can surprise opponents.”

In the remaining game of Round 1, Devonport City should be too strong for Riverside Olympic at Windsor Park at 2.15pm tomorrow.

Devonport will be without Jack Dance, who broke his leg against Launceston City last weekend.

The North-West Coast side, who are the reigning champions, will be smarting from that defeat and will be fired up to make amends.

That could be bad news for Riverside Olympic.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Olympia playing nasty games as usual, could of processed things a lot quicker but chose not too. never mind just means Joffrey's first game for Knights will be against the warriors. Do they think that is the better option, i think not, will be some bitterness there.

Anonymous said...

Nah, I reckon he probably don’t want to play until his $10k cheque clears over the weekend ,, Smart kid

Anonymous said...

I heard that he is now holding out to get the $20K that McKeown is getting at Kingborough...and two free pair of boots.