The Devonport Strikers have maintained their perfect record, as they easily dealt with Clarence United 9-0 on Saturday afternoon. Eddie Bidwell fired in a hat-trick as the Reds were forced to play over an hour with just the 10 men.
It was a windy day at Valley Road with Clarence United visiting 'The Portress', where the Strikers have had an incredibly strong record since their emergence in the NPL. Clarence had not started their season the way that they had hoped but were hopeful as you never know what could come from a game of football. Both teams were looking to get three points out of the clash. Devonport's line team sheet looked the longer as Clarence only brought two substitutes with them.
The game was underway and straight away Devonport looked the more dangerous of the two, earning a corner within the first three minutes of the game. It only took seven minutes before the Strikers got their first goal of the day, with Stone looking to find Giampoli for a header but misplacing his pass. Luckily Eddie Bidwell was there for Devonport to blast the ball into the back of the net. Clarence then defended well, making sure to shut down most of the Devonport attacks, even going on the attack themselves a few times which was quickly shut down on their end.
The Clarence goalkeeper Jake French had an impressive individual performance, and it started when he made a great 1 v 1 save in the 20th minute after Giampoli had been put on through on goal.
In the 21st minute, the game took a turn for the worse when Bremner elbowed Eddie Bidwell in the face resulting in a red card for the Clarence player. Devonport finally broke the defence down again in the 31st minute through Bidwell again, making some great play down the right-hand side, crossing the ball low and deflecting off a Clarence player before ending up in the back of the net. Devonport then added on two more goals before half time through Jack Dance and a Guillermo Lazcano penalty.
With the start of the second half, Devonport made no mistake in starting well, scoring in the 49th and 51st minute with West scoring his first NPL goal for the club and Bidwell scoring his second of the day with Fitzgerald playing a major part in both games.
Substitute Miles Barnard then got on the score sheet for Devonport in the 66th minute after tapping home a rebound from a penalty that saw French initially denying Stone. Stone then scored himself in the 73rd minute to make it 8-0.
Clarence made a run forwards in the 87th minute and earned a free kick in an attacking position, which was put over the crossbar in one of their few chances on the day. In the 92nd minute, Giampoli scored from a tough angle to finish the scoring on the day and see it finish 9-0.
It was a well-deserved win from the Strikers which means they head into their next game against South Hobart full of confidence, while Clarence are still looking to get their first win of the season.