Match of the Round: Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights
Round 9’s Match of the Round takes us to TassieCare Park where fifth-placed Launceston City hosts the competition-leading Glenorchy Knights.
City will enter this one off the back of a victory last Friday night over Riverside, but coach Daniel Syson knows his side will need to be better if they are to repeat that result against the Knights.
“I think internally we knew it was a frustrating game for us, even though we won 1-0, in terms of the standards and expectations, we didn’t really meet them," he said.
"So it was a frustrating night, a clean sheet and a goal is great, but that was about it for positives, in terms of performance it was a bit frustrating."
The sides met back in Round 2 with the Knights recording a comfortable 4-0 win. Syson said he had reflected on elements of the game, but felt the more recent matches were more useful to help his side prepare.
“I think just watching some of their more recent games and seeing some of the ways they’ve improved, really helps us more in terms of preparing for this game for us," he said.
"Rather than focusing too much on that first game between us, it's more about seeing what were the things we did well in that game and where we’ve improved in since with that.”
He said the game planning was about striking a mix between playing with your own style and preparing for what the opponents would bring.
"Your principles and game model remain the same, but you really have to focus on, what are your principles and how can I use them against the side you're playing against and how do you nullify what they are good at. So the opposition does affect the training week, in terms of what areas you need to get on top of them.”
Syson admitted it would be a tough challenge for his side to come up against a strong opponent.
"They’ve scored the most goals in the league and conceded the least, so it’s a side that when I look at, I don’t see many weaknesses and there are minimal ones. It’s a case of working on those minimal weaknesses and trying to get on top of them but also defensively we need to be aware of what their strengths are in order to nullify them."
Knights boss James Sherman was content with how his side were building into the season and said confidence was up in the playing group ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“We’ve had a nice run so far and we are in a good position, I think we are feeling confident, but that’s not to say that we take City lightly at all. They’re a really good side and they show that most weeks, and we expect to see that on Saturday.”
Sherman felt breaking down the City defence whilst not leaving themselves vulnerable on the counter-attack could be the main challenge for his side.
"I think they are defending quite well lately, they’ve kept a handful of clean sheets, They’ve got a handful of key players who seem to have found their way in Daniel’s system. We’ve got to be really careful that we look after the ball and in particular when we go forwards that we sustain our attacks, they’ve got some players who are very dangerous on the counter-attack.
We’ve got to make sure that when we get closer to goal that we capitalise on our opportunities or sustain attacks. I think when we get into certain areas on the pitch, and the opportunity to score is potentially gone, then we need to ensure that we are not giving the ball away or allowing an opposition side to get into a position to go back at us."
Taking goal-scoring chances was the other area Sherman said had been a focus for his side, believing they had been wasteful in recent clashes against Devonport.
"We do a lot of work on being creative and taking our opportunities, I still think we have a little bit of work to do and I still think we are underperforming slightly in that area, so that’s something we’ve been looking to improve on over the past 2-3 weeks. Especially the Devonport games, where we allowed them to remain in the game due to lack of quality when it came to scoring."
In other Round 9 action, the rest of the competition’s top four all face road trips where they will still be expected to come away with three points.
Launceston United had their best 45 minutes of the season last time around against Devonport and will look to sustain that over 90 minutes this time at Birch Avenue against a Strikers side who now sit 2 points off top spot.
South Hobart may have been bounced from top spot last week, but they still remain unbeaten and should be favourites against a Clarence Zebras team who have beaten the two sides below them, but lost to the five sides above them so far in 2024.
Finally, the Kingborough Lions head back to Windsor Park to take on Riverside Olympic in a rematch of their recent Lakoseljac Cup Semi-Final. The Lions just snuck home on that day, but the narrow 2-1 scoreline should give the Roos some hope of causing an upset here.
Round 9
Saturday 1 June
Launceston United v Devonport Strikers, Birch Avenue, 2:15pm LIVE STREAM
Clarence Zebras v South Hobart, Wentworth Park, 2:30pm LIVE STREAM
Riverside Olympic v Kingborough Lions, Windsor Park, 4:30pm LIVE STREAM
Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights, TassieCare Park, 4:45pm LIVE STREAM