South Hobart should continue their march towards
the Victory League title by beating bottom-side Launceston City away at
Mitsubishi Park at 4.30pm on Saturday.
The league leaders are 6 points ahead of
second-placed Tilford Zebras and will need to lose three games out of the
remaining eight to be in danger of relinquishing their title.
Tilford Zebras should be too strong for
second-last Glenorchy Knights at 8pm at KGV Park on Friday, while the most
intriguing match of Round 14 will probably be Saturday night’s showdown between
third-placed Olympia Warriors and fourth-ranked Northern Rangers at 6pm at
Warrior Park.
The remaining fixture is at Valley Road at 3pm on
Saturday, when fifth-placed Devonport City host sixth-ranked Kingborough Lions
United.
Launceston City coach, Kurt Reynolds, is not
despairing about his side’s chances against South Hobart.
“South Hobart are a very good side and deservedly
sit on top of the ladder,” said Reynolds. “In saying that, we are at home and in a
position to put the strongest squad in weeks on the park.
“I am not satisfied that we have not picked up
further points in Round Two and Saturday is our last opportunity to do so.
“South Hobart are well organised and difficult to
break down. It will be interesting to
see if new signing Lamont starts. Their
midfield is strong and the likes of Brennan, Mann and Hamlett are a handful
up-front, so we must pay South lots of respect.
“As always, we enter this match hoping to create
a positive outcome. Again, our objective
was to collect more points in Round Two than we have currently achieved and
Saturday is another opportunity.
“With Mark Cristy returning from suspension and
Nathan Bartlett potentially playing in a more advanced role, I believe that we
will be able to create multiple scoring opportunities.
“Andy Compagne remains out with an ankle injury. However, we welcome back Mark Cristy from
suspension and Yanjin Park, who was unavailable last weekend. Angus Martin will make his second appearance
for the club.”
This will be South Hobart’s
last trip north this season and theya re likely to include new signing Scott
Lamont.
“We can’t afford to
drop silly points so our emphasis will be to make sure the players are focused
and ready for this game,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton.
“Launceston City have
improved, they have some good players and, if given opportunities, will score
goals, but at the same time, they have made mistakes and have been punished.
“We will work hard,
try and apply some early pressure on them and look for the breakthrough because
it is important for us to keep that space at the top of the ladder.
“In the last couple of
games our team work has been good. We
have created chances, converted and we have defended well as a team. The key for our success, we believe, is
teamwork.
“Hugh
Ludford returns after serving one week for a red card and, of course, new
signing Scott Lamont enters the squad.”
Knights will be missing the
injured trio of Sam Johnson, Tyler Harrison and Seung Yong Jin, while Nick Di
Falco is unavailable.
“We have included Phineas Aldridge and Sean Robb in our
Victory League squad,” said Knights coach, Chris Hey. “Both players will play Victory Development
League and we will see what options we have at our disposal on game day.
“Zebras are having a purple patch and it is good to see
young Ethan Engels being provided an opportunity and rewarding his coach by
getting on the score sheet regularly. Ethan,
along with the physical presence of Alex Leszczynski and Adam McKeowen on their
day, are a handful for any team.
“The big improvement with Zebras is in their defensive
structure, having the second best in the league to date, so this will be a
difficult task for us, but Vincent Kamano and Aaron Wilson both showed maturity
and composure when they came off the bench last week, both scoring crucial
goals.
“Noah
Thorne will make his starting debut at full back for us and he is a promising
young player for the future of the Knights.”
Tilford Zebras will have
Kurt Reynolds back in their squad for the game against an under-strength Glenorchy
Knights.
“I expect
a tough game against well-organised opposition, so we have to remain
disciplined and play to the best of our abilities,” said Tilford Zebras coach,
Jed Donoghue.
“Glenorchy are well coached and have plenty of
skill and leadership at the back and in the middle of the park, and lots of
pace out wide, so they are always a handful.
“We have
to play to the best of our abilities and be focused and disciplined in order to
put pressure on the ladder leaders.
“We have to take our chances in front of goal,
and pressure the opposition when they have the ball.”
Devonport City coach Nick Owen has all but given
up on a top-four berth.
“After last week's loss, playing finals is
highly unlikely,” said Owen.
“This will take the pressure off a bit and allow
us to try a few new faces and really focus more on our style of play.
“This might not make everyone at the club happy,
but the difference between finishing 5th, 6th or 7th is nothing really and we
are probably clear of the wooden spoon.
“That is not to say that the next 8 games aren't
important. It is extremely important to
see who is up to the challenge and who is willing to improve.”
Kingborough Lions United’s new coach, Colin
Robbins, realises the immensity of the task faced by his side.
“Devonport will not be an easy game for the team,”
he said. “The Strikers have won four
times at home this season with only the two losses, the recent South Hobart
Round 12 game and Round 2 against Olympia. The Strikers will also be looking to bounce
back after two consecutive losses and will be hungry for the win.
“Completing an inspection of
Valley Road last Sunday, we found the venue extremely heavy and the further wet
weather expected during the week will only compound the problem.
“We will continue to develop our
new defensive structures with Tom Young returning. The loss of Jack Turner will be a loss but
this will provide an opportunity to test the depth of the squad.
“Training this week has
concentrated on transitioning and attacking, two areas that exposed us against
the Zebras. We had enough entries into
the attacking third but lacked the finishing skill.
“The team continues to take small
positive steps with growing confidence, so we believe we will provide the
Strikers with a tough, hard fought game.
“Strikers are a strong team and
like to play football. They don’t
concede too many goals, which indicates that they have a strong defence. Some big wins this year also. They are a team that can create goal-scoring
opportunities and finish on goal.
“Holden is a very good young
player but we will also need to be mindful of their other avenues to goal. Defending Strikers’ set-piece plays will be a
key for our team. They have some good
tall timber amongst their team and this will be a threat.
“We have taken a lot of positives from the Zebras
game and must look to continuing the stepping stones that will improve the
team’s performance for the remainder of the season and build towards next season.
“It will be a tough assignment
heading to Valley Road but coming away with the three points will provide the
team with further confidence in upcoming games.
“The side that tires the earliest
on the heavy track may lead to the final outcome of the game.
“We are looking to continue the
development of our new defensive unit and its ability to maintain shape and
complete the team and player tasks. We
must also strive to enter the attacking third regularly to test the opposition,
then display improvement with our finishing skills. Our fitness levels are very good, which should
see us finish the game strongly as we did last week against the Zebras.
“Jack Turner, with a groin strain, and Nate Taylor,
with a hamstring strain, are both out of the squad this week after picking up
injuries during last week’s game.
“Billy Gasparinatos has decided
to concentrate on his work commitments for the remainder of the season, so
drops out of the 20 man KLUFC VL squad.
“Defender Tom Young returns,
along with Nick Vialle, and young defender Daniel Kingsbury has been added to
the squad.
“Young goalkeeper Roan Gillam
returns to the squad from a quad strain after training strongly this week.”
Olympia Warriors will be without Nick Meredith
for their game against Northern Rangers, while Brian Kabangu returns to the
squad.
“It looks like Rangers have turned the corner and
they are back to producing consistent results,” said Olympia coach, Glen
McNeill.
“We are yet to earn three points against them and
we will need to be at our best to achieve it.
“We are obviously coming off the back of a
disappointing performance last week and we will be looking to redeem ourselves
on Saturday night.
Northern
Rangers coach, Tim Lunnon, was delighted with last week’s win against Devonport
City but is not taking the outcome of this game for granted.
“Last week against Devonport was an important
game for us,” Lunnon said. “We really needed the win as we look to gather
points for the top-4.
“Overall, we were reasonably happy with the
result, but there are still elements of our game that need tightening up and we
aim to further improve in these areas.
“This week’s game against Olympia in Hobart
provides another test for us, but one the boys are looking forward to. Olympia are always a tough match-up down
south, but we match up fairly well against them, so we are aiming to put our
best foot forward.
“Their squad is certainly stronger than last time
we played them, with Ralph and Cabello in the mix. Nester has been making some great saves of late
also but we think some one-on-one battles will be key to the result. If we put our best foot forward, it should be
a great game.
“In terms of the match itself, yes it is
important. You have to keep accruing
points and this match-up is an opportunity to jump a spot on the ladder, so it
certainly does add something into the mix.
“We just have to stick to our game and no doubt
defend well against some good attacking players.
“We finally have Adam [Edwards] back after having
a nasty infection picked up from either a boot stud or a recovery session.
“It took a lot longer than we thought for him to
recover, so it is good to have him back.
Apart from that, our squad is pretty settled, Nick [Lanau-Atkinson] is
still a week or two away, so our squad to Hobart is pretty much the same as
last week.
“The boys have been doing a pretty good job, so
you have to back them in again.”
TASMANIAN VICTORY LEAGUE (As
at 5 July 2014)
|
TEAM
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
|
South
Hobart
|
13
|
11
|
0
|
2
|
52
|
14
|
33
|
|
Tilford
Zebras
|
13
|
9
|
0
|
4
|
41
|
13
|
27
|
|
Olympia
Warriors
|
13
|
8
|
1
|
4
|
34
|
20
|
25
|
|
Northern
Rangers
|
13
|
8
|
1
|
4
|
37
|
24
|
25
|
|
Devonport
City
|
13
|
5
|
1
|
7
|
25
|
30
|
16
|
|
Kingborough
Lions
|
13
|
4
|
1
|
8
|
24
|
51
|
13
|
|
Glenorchy
Knights
|
13
|
3
|
1
|
9
|
20
|
40
|
10
|
|
Launceston
City
|
13
|
1
|
1
|
11
|
22
|
63
|
4
|
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