South Hobart can do Glenorchy Knights a huge favour tomorrow if they can take points off NPL Tasmania leaders Devonport City when the sides meet at South Hobart Oval at 2pm.
Devonport hold a 4-point lead over Knights and, if South Hobart win, that lead could be reduced to a point, providing, of course, that Knights can beat Clarence Zebras away at Wentworth Park at 4.30pm tomorrow.
South Hobart will have a similar squad to that which beat Kingborough Lions United in the Lakoseljac Cup quarterfinal last Sunday.
Kasper Hallam is likely to be in the South Hobart squad after he was withdrawn from last week’s starting line-up because of injury.
He has been receiving treatment and trained for an hour yesterday evening and he will be assessed as to his fitness before tomorrow’s game.
“I think he’s got a big chance,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton.
“It’s a big game as Devonport think they’re the best team in the State by a long stretch.
“They’ve had a good week training this week after last weekend off so they’ll be coming down to play well and give us a good bashing, but hopefully we’ll be ready for them and play a good game.
“Knights and a couple of other teams will probably be hoping we can win and peg them back a little bit.”
Devonport have included Harry Crocker in their squad, He played three NPL games for them back in 2018 and may be included on the bench.
Second-placed Glenorchy Knights are up for the game against Clarence Zebras, according to Knights coach, James Sherman.
“It was good to get through to the semi finals in the cup last weekend and we can now focus on the league for the next two months,” Sherman said.
“We’re excited for tomorrow's game away at Clarence.
“They have been intense, physical matches recently and we are looking forward to that again.
“It’s really difficult to get much at Wentworth Park.
“They've held Devonport for 80 minutes there, and they’ve had narrow losses to South and Kingorough.
“And then, obviously, they had a win in the season opener against Olympia.
“Throw in the fact they've had a week’s extra rest and we now can expect to be up against it.
“All we can do is focus on playing well. We will need to manage the small things that lead to that and, hopefully, results will be positive.”
Clarence Zebras will again be without Dwayne Walsh, who has a broken wrist, and James Ackerley, who has a fractured elbow.
“We’ve basically got the same 14 players we’ve had for a while, so we’ve just got to use the players we’ve got and we may just basically change the substitutes,” said Clarence Zebras coach, David Smith.
“All I’ve been doing in the last few weeks is basically make some positional changes from time to time to see if I can get the right formula.
“I’m looking forward to the game, even though we were well beaten by them the last time.
“It was a pretty disappointing effort from our end and we’ll seek to improve.
“They’re probably the form team at the moment and we’ll be playing against a strong, physical side, so it’ll be a big challenge for us.”
Riverside Olympia host Olympia Warriors at Windsor Park at 2.15pm tomorrow and both sides have much to prove.
The Warriors have named a father and son duo in their squad in veteran goalkeeper Michael Moschogianis and his son Koby.
Olympia are likely to be without the injured Jacob Herbert and Warren Wadawu, while striker Ben Hamlett may also be an absentee.
Samuel Ridgard could be out of the Launceston City squad that hosts Kingborough Lions United at Bucky Land Rover Park in Launceston at 4.30pm tomorrow.
He sustained what looked like a bad ankle or Achilles tendon injury last weekend in the 2-0 Lakoseljac Cup win over Hobart United.
City look a different side with Noah Mies in the line-up and his goalscoring prowess is invaluable.
Kingborough will again be without Shane Cartwright, but Adam McKeown and James Hall will be back.
Youngster Oliver James has also been named in the Kingborough squad in what is his first NPL selection.
NPL Tasmania Standings (As at 29 August 2020)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport City |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
4 |
19 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
7 |
15 |
|
South Hobart |
7 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
9 |
12 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
7 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
13 |
13 |
12 |
|
Olympia Warriors |
7 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
13 |
10 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
15 |
5 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
11 |
18 |
5 |
|
Launceston City |
7 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
16 |
1 |
2 comments:
What the hell is going on at Olympia.
“It’s a big game as Devonport think they’re the best team in the State by a long stretch.
eat your words Ken
Post a Comment