Photo: South Hobart's Kobe Kemp smiling at today's media conference. He is looking forward to taking on Olympia Warriors tomorrow. [PlessPix]
It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow in the NPL Tasmania
competition south of Oatlands.
There’s a game at 2.15pm at Lightwood Park, one at KGV Park
at 4.30pm, and one in the evening at Warrior Park, which kicks off at 6.30pm.
That’s how it should be.
Football fans and reporters want to be able to attend as many games as
possible on a given day.
The day’s programme begins at 2pm at Windsor Park in
Launceston, where sixth-placed Riverside Olympic host seventh-ranked Clarence
Zebras.
This should be a close tussle and a draw would not
surprise, although Riverside’s Nils Sanz could swing things in his side’s
favour.
Probably the most important game is at Lightwood Park, where
fourth-ranked Kingborough Lions United entertain reigning champions and current
ladder-leaders Devonport City.
‘Entertain’ could be the wrong word here as the Lions will
be out to contain and overcome Devonport, and it may not be pretty.
At least two of the other top-four teams - second-placed
Glenorchy Knights and third-ranked South Hobart
- will be praying for a
Kingborough victory because if it doesn’t happen, and if Devonport win, they’ll
be hot favourites to retain their crown with half the season gone.
Devonport have not been playing attractive football and they
have usually been winning by one-goal margin. But, hey, if you’re unbeaten and top of the
league by 6 points, who’s going to complain?
Winning 3 points is the aim of the game and, ultimately, it doesn’t
matter if you do that pretty or ugly.
Kingborough’s defence is a worry. They were 2-0 down at half-time last week but
drew 3-3 with Olympia Warriors after actually leading 3-2 with half an hour to
play.
Devonport have the best defence in the league and I doubt
that Kingborough will be able to breach it.
Devonport have to come right soon, and this may be the day
they score more than one or two goals.
Second-placed Glenorchy Knights should stay on the heels of
Devonport by beating bottom-side Launceston City at KGV Park.
The Knights deserve to be second and they could and should have
got something out of their trip to Valley Road last weekend, where they lost
1-0 to Devonport.
They should be much too good for City and the Knights
strikers may well have a field day.
Olympia parted company with coach Andrew Brown this week
and that could work two ways for them against South Hobart.
The ‘new coach syndrome’
- former coach Rob Clarke will be
in charge - could work in their favour as players try to
impress.
But, it could also work the other way, especially if Clarke
rearranges the line-up and adopts new tactics.
Centre-forward Jack Ryan will be playing his final game for
Olympia before returning to the UK for family reasons and he will want to go out
with a bang and give Olympia’s fans something to remember him by.
His goal scoring ability could be crucial in this clash,
and Olympia desperately need a win after starting the season poorly.
Photo: South Hobart skipper Kobe Kemp at today's media conference [PlessPix]
South Hobart coach Ken Morton is out of hospital and recuperating
after gall bladder surgery and South Hobart’s captain, Kobe Kemp, said at today’s
media conference that Morton was hoping to be able to attend the game and even
take a spot on the coaches’ bench.
Kemp predicted a tough game and said all the players were
familiar with each other - four Olympia players are from South
Hobart -
and that the contest would be fierce on the field but that’s where the
emotions and aggression would stay after the game.
“We know Olympia will come out ready to fire after losing their
coach,” Kemp said. “We have to expect a
tough game, as always.
“We’ll just focus on us and make sure we’re ready for the
game at hand.
“There’ll be a lot of feeling in it, but it’s all in good
faith.
“It’s the big one and we obviously need to win and keep in
touch with Devonport and Glenorchy, so we’ll be going out there to win.
“Olympia will be keen to turn things around for them and so
they’ll be up for it as well.”
Kemp said the team had missed Ken Morton’s coaching, but
his replacements, including Ned and Max Clarke and Harry Rickus, had done a
good job, while the leadership group within the team had also held things
together.
NPL Tasmania
Standings (As at 22
August 2020)
TEAM
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
Devonport City
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
3
|
18
|
Glenorchy Knights
|
6
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
13
|
7
|
12
|
South Hobart
|
6
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
12
|
7
|
12
|
Kingborough Lions
|
6
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
12
|
12
|
11
|
Olympia Warriors
|
6
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
13
|
12
|
7
|
Riverside Olympic
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
8
|
15
|
4
|
Clarence Zebras
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
12
|
4
|
Launceston City
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
7
|
13
|
1
|
4 comments:
The only thing missing on days like today Walter is the ability for a neutral fan like myself to purchase some sort of season pass to make going to the games more economical. Some weeks I’d like to go to several games, other weeks none. The ability to purchase a season pass up front, for around the average cost of $5 per game would be great. This season for example could have been a pass that gets you into up to 14 games for a cost of $70. Each time you go to a game you membership ticket is stamped.
Surely something like this would get more people to games. I know it would get neutrals like me out and about more.
That's a wonderful idea. How about it FT and clubs? Promote our game. Cheers! Walter
No Brown's and Ryan leaving. Olympia are stuffed. Good job George.
I am not an Olympia fan, however I was impressed with their performance yesterday. The game was at a cracking pace for the full 90 mins. They stayed with South in the 1st half and managed to get on top in the 2nd half. What a season Olympia may have had if they started the season as they played yesterday. Brown's who?
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