The Olympics are here, but our own ‘Olympians’, namely Riverside Olympic and Olympia Warriors, will need to produce Herculean efforts this weekend if they are to earn points.
Riverside Olympic, who were hammered 8-0 at home by Devonport on Tuesday night, remain stranded at the foot of the table.
They meet sixth-ranked Launceston City at Buckby Motors Park at 7.30pm today and will be hard-pressed to earn even a point.
City did well against South Hobart in the opening half of their game last week and, if they can extend that sort of endeavour to 90 minutes, they should be too good for Riverside.
Olympia Warriors are up against it when they travel to Valley Road tomorrow to take on league-leaders Devonport Strikers.
Olympia’s Ben Curtis will be playing his last game for the club before heading Stateside to play for the University of Texas.
Joseph Mwarabu will be out for up to six weeks after tearing a thigh muscle.
Will Simaan, a 17-year-old, will be on the bench and may make his senior debut for the Warriors, who are second-last.
Ashton Pacey-Mayne returns to the Olympia line-up after serving a one-week suspension after he accumulated five yellow cards.
Olympia coach Rob Clark explained his surprise decision to substitute leading scorer Kyle Vincent last week against Clarence Zebras by saying the speedy youngster needs to be more of a team player.
“He’s been a good player for us and scores goals, but he needed a lesson about how it should be all about the team, and he needs to bring his team-mates into play,” Clark said.
“As for the Devonport game, we are as confident as we can be.
"We got a draw against them last time and we’re hoping we can produce a huge upset this time.”
Devonport will be in no mood to take it easy after Tuesday’s 8-0 win and they will be a formidable opponent for the visitors.
Joel Stone hit a hat-trick against Riverside on Tuesday and he will pose a huge threat to Olympia, who will need to deal with him if they are to have any chance.
The game of the round seems to be Glenorchy Knights versus South Hobart at 3pm at KGV Park tomorrow.
Knights coach James Sherman said his squad had been somewhat depleted since the start of the season and he would probably field the same side as last week, when Knights were beaten 4-0 away to Devonport.
“We’re confident and we must win to stay in touch with Devonport,” said Sherman.
“We were not aggressive enough last time we played them and we must play for 90 minutes and not just 45 minutes.
“We have to take our chances early and control the game from the start.”
South Hobart will have Loic Feral, Josh Divin and Noah Gardner available after the trio finish their quarantine at midnight tonight.
They missed last week’s 4-1 win over Launceston City after returning from Victoria, where Divin and Gardner had been training with Melbourne City.
Jayden Hey has trained well and will also be in contention for a place after recovering from injury.
“We’ve got to start better than we have been,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton.
“Knights have a top starting eleven and are versatile in terms of switching formation and we’ll have to be ready for that.”
Kingborough Lions United are keen to finish at least third and they will need to beat Clarence Zebras away at 2.15pm at Wentworth Park tomorrow to keep that dream alive.
They will be without the injured Phil Kantzos, who may be replaced by Jorden Mundy in the number 10 role.
Ben Hamlett is still out because of a hamstring injury and may resume training next week.
The club will keep faith in 17-year-old goalkeeper Tate Kingston.
“He’s got us wins with some of his saves and we’ll keep faith in him,” said Kingborough assistant coach, Cameron Ellis.
“We’re just not taking our chances and we have conceded some silly goals, but our aim is to finish in the top-four, and preferably third.”
Clarence Zebras, who are 7 points adrift of Kingborough on the standings, will again be without Simon Stankovich.
This means Dwayne Walsh may move to full-back rather than playing in midfield.
Clarence Zebras coach, Franco Previdi, said he was taking things week to week and this was just another game.
“It’s a good challenge and we’ve been training well and hard.”
NPL Tasmania schedule:
Friday, 23 July 2021
Launceston City v Riverside Olympic (Buckby Motors Park, Friday, 7.30pm)
Saturday, 24 July 2021
Clarence Zebras v Kingborough Lions United (Wentworth Park, 2.15pm)
Glenorchy Knights v South Hobart (KGV Park, 3pm)
Devonport Strikers v Olympia Warriors (Valley Road, 2.15pm)
NPL Tasmania (As at 17 July 2021)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport City |
14 |
11 |
1 |
2 |
37 |
10 |
34 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
13 |
9 |
3 |
1 |
43 |
16 |
30 |
|
South Hobart |
13 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
34 |
14 |
28 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
14 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
25 |
28 |
20 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
13 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
23 |
33 |
13 |
|
Launceston City |
13 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
16 |
31 |
13 |
|
Olympia Warriors |
13 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
20 |
33 |
11 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
13 |
0 |
2 |
11 |
17 |
51 |
2 |
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