1. Devonport City moved a step closer to retaining their NPL Tasmania title when they came from behind to beat Clarence Zebras 2-1 at home at Valley Road.
Devonport lead second-placed Glenorchy Knights by 6 points with two rounds to play.
Devonport trailed for a long time after Matthew Pace had given the visitors the lead midway through the first half.
Two goals in 3 minutes late in the game saw Devonport collect the 3 points and maintain their 6-point lead over second-placed Glenorchy Knights at the top of the standings.
With only 2 games remaining, it seems highly unlikely that Knights will catch the league leaders.
Knights host Devonport in the final league game, but the title may well have been decided by then.
2. Miles Barnard proved again that he is indeed what some observers call him: The Fox in the box.
Barnard has an uncanny ability to scores goals that matter, when they matter.
He scored both goals against Clarence Zebras in the space of 3 minutes after coming on as a substitute.
He had missed several games after being injured against Kingborough Lions United, a game in which he netted the equaliser in stoppage time.
He didn’t get a run in the 4-1 win over South Hobart, but his two goals last Saturday showed he still has ‘the knack’.
3. Adam McKeown scored his 100th NPL Tasmania goal on Saturday.
McKeown is only the second player to score 100 goals in the NPL Tasmania competition, the other being former Devonport City striker Brayden Mann.
McKeown, who transferred from Clarence Zebras to Kingborough Lions United this season, grabbed two brilliant goals in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to South Hobart.
Keenan Douce had the two assists in McKeown’s goals, which were two of the best seen in the NPL this year.
How Clarence Zebras must regret McKeown’s departure.
4. The floodlights at KGV Park just have to be improved.
The floodlights at KGV Park are simply inadequate.
Even when they are all on, the lighting is poor and this is simply unacceptable for the home of football in Tasmania.
Last Friday night, half the lights went off 20 minutes into the Southern Championship top-of-the-table game between New Town White Eagles and Hobart United.
It was 0-0 at the time but after a lengthy delay the game was abandoned by the referee.
The problem may have been the timer on the lights. Apparently they are set to go to a ‘training mode’ at a certain time.
This is probably to save power as the lighting provided by that mode is adequate for training sessions.
No-one at the ground knew how to re-set the lights, but no-one could gain access to the power box anyway.
Calls were made to Football Tasmania and someone was apparently on their way to the ground to try and rectify things.
The two coaches agreed that the game should not be shortened and should go for 90 minutes, but that would have meant the game would have gone on longer than allowed. The lights have to be off by 10.30pm. As a result, the referee abandoned the match and it will be replayed.
5. Olympia Warriors have probably sewn up the Women’s Super League after beating closest rivals Clarence Zebras 1-0 at Warrior Park on Sunday.
The result gives Olympia an 8-point lead over Clarence Zebras with just a handful of games remaining. Olympia have 3 and Clarence Zebras 4.
“I’m just very proud of a super mature performance by my girls,” said Olympia coach, Alastair Russell.
“We knew that Clarence Zebras would come out and have a real go at us as they really had nothing to lose so we wanted to stay compact, but also in the knowledge that we would get chances on the counter and be more likely to get in behind them than in the previous two games.
“I thought there were some superb Clarence Zebras performances on the day, especially young Bronte [Gadon], who was excellent, and we know they always carry a massive goal threat, so to keep them to one goal in three games is an excellent return for us.
“We now turn to the three Women’s Super League games we have left with a lot of confidence, but absolutely taking nothing for granted.
“We know that if you do, this game can turn on you very quickly.
“On a final note, it was great to see so many people come out and watch all three games between these two sides. That can only be good for women's football in Tasmania.”
6. Glenorchy Knights have reappointed coach James Sherman for the 2021 NPL Tasmania season.
It will be Sherman’s third season in charge.
The current truncated season has been Sherman’s best in charge and the Knights still have a slim chance of capturing the title.
Sherman is the only NPL coach to have actually played in his club’s senior side during the year.
Launceston City coach Roger Hardwicke has named himself on the City team-sheet at times but I don’t think he’s actually taken the field.
7. Kingborough Lions United beat University 5-0 in tonight’s Women’s Super League game at Lightwood Park.
The result does not change the league placings, with University stuck at the bottom and Kingborough second-last and a massive 11 points head if University.
Kingborough are now just a point adrift of fourth-placed South Hobart.
3 comments:
Apologies if I'm incorrect Walter, but by my calculations, Kingborough's win does change the standings and now puts them up into third - ahead of Ulverstone on goal difference. Plus the Lions still have one more catch-up game up their sleeve v Zebs on Oct 28.
Anonymous 3.21pm. You are correct. My apologies. I was going on the standings on the FT site, which must not have been updated. Cheers!
I see FT have updated the Women's Super League standings. Kingborough are third, Ulverstone fourth, South Hobart fifth and University sixth.
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