Match of the Round: Kingborough Lions v Riverside Olympic
Lions and Riverside Look To Kick Start Campaigns at the Den
The Kingborough Lions and Riverside Olympic will look to put opening week disappointment behind them and open up their accounts as they meet at the Den on Saturday afternoon. With the Lions falling to South Hobart and Riverside’s match with City postponed, they will both be eager to register their first points of the season.
Lions star Kobe Kemp said the group weren’t happy with last week’s efforts and they were eager to get back to their best.
"It was disappointing in terms of the result, there were aspects of our performance that were encouraging, especially in the second half; however, I think overall we were quite disappointed that we didn’t really bring to light our performance as we would have liked to, so hopefully that will fuel a good performance this weekend," Kemp said.
“We were almost asleep in that first half against South. The positive is that was just the first match of the season, there are still 20 games to go, so there is plenty of time for us to pick up and improve. But for us, the main thing we will be looking for is a bit of consistency in terms of our play and our style.
"We are fully encouraged by the fact that we know if we stick to how Alfred wants us to play, we can get a result against any team, but it’s just about getting that consistency to actually do the business."
Kemp said playing at home would give the players a boost, praising the club's supporter base.
"We love playing at home, we love our supporters. We’ve got our Ultras down there, so they give us a boost. It’s a beautiful surface, so it's always nice to play at home and we truly feel it gives us an advantage any time we play there."
His coach Alfred Hess said the home game was a good bounce-back opportunity, and the focus had been on the defence on the training track this week.
"It’s a great opportunity to respond, after not getting the start to the league season we would’ve liked in terms of the result and the performance was a bit lacking," Hess said.
"We gave ourselves a lot of work to do with the goals we conceded, so we’ve had a little bit of a focus on our behaviours in defensive organisation this week. So that’s probably a key area for us to give ourselves a chance to win."
Hess said the shortened game last week gave meant Riverside remained somewhat of a mystery.
"They are a bit of an unknown at the moment. There was not a lot of news coming out of the North in the preseason and then a very concise sample that we can look at from last week. But we have some quality staff and experienced players, so there was something we can take from it certainly."
The Lions will be without star wideman Declan Taylor, who has departed for Taroona. Hess admitted it was a blow, but said he felt his side had options to replace him.
"It’s going to be a massive task to try and replace someone of Declan’s quality, but there’s an opportunity there for us to utilize the depth of our squad and there are certainly some players who are emerging in those type of roles, so it remains to be seen how we replace him," Hess said.
Riverside’s season also got off to a less-than-ideal start, albeit for different reasons, with their season opener against Launceston City postponed following an injury to Will Fleming and subsequent wait for an ambulance.
Speaking at Friday's press conference, Riverside coach Helder dos Santos Silva said it was an unfortunate way to start things off and admitted not getting those Round 1 minutes into the squad was a blow.
"It was very disappointing to not be able to finish the game, but Will’s health comes first so both parties decided not to finish the game," dos Santos Silva said.
"Will comes first as a player, he was an important player for us, but it was very important for us as a group to make sure that his health is the priority.
"We started the game very well, on the front foot and then unfortunately the incident happens. So we are going to be missing a few minutes in the legs, it was going to be a very important game for us to start the season.
"The boys were keen to start but we just keep moving forwards. So we now go to Kingborough and try to get a result from it ... Even if it's 1-0, it's good enough."
He paid credit to the Lions boss Alfred Hess and said he was looking to build a similar culture at Riverside.
"The Kingborough Lions are a set team, they’ve been playing good football throughout the years with the same players," dos Santos Silva said.
"Alfred has done a great job there, with his coaching and philosophy. The culture of the club is quite strong as well. We are still trying to implement a different culture in the club, and we are going to try our best to get a result from there."
Opening Day Victors Looking To String Wins
In other action around the NPL Tasmania in Round 2, a string of title fanciers will be looking to maintain their perfect starts to the season.
South Hobart will look to build off their impressive opening-day victory as they take on the Clarence Zebras at Darcy Street. With a home game here it represents a great chance for South to bank some early points and push themselves firmly into the 2024 title fight, having fallen behind early in some recent seasons. The Zebras gave a good account of themselves last week at Valley Road and looked organized at the back before the Strikers' pressure eventually told.
At Birch Avenue, Launceston United will be out to put a disastrous opening day behind them when they host another competition heavyweight in the Devonport Strikers. After shipping 9 last weekend, they will need to be far tighter at the back to contain a new-look Strikers' frontline that looked lively against the Zebras in a 3-0 win, with Japanese import Riku Ichimura again looking razor sharp.
In the final game, Launceston City will take on the Glenorchy Knights in their home opener, who enter this one off the back of that thumping 9-0 win over City's neighbours United. It was an ominous warning to the rest of the competition of the firepower that James Sherman has at his disposal this season.
McDonald’s NPL Tasmania
Round 2
Saturday 23 March
South Hobart v Clarence Zebras, 2:00pm, Darcy Street LIVE STREAM
Launceston United v Devonport Strikers, 2:15pm, Birch Avenue LIVE STREAM
Kingborough Lions v Riverside Olympic, 4:30pm, Lightwood Park LIVE STREAM
Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights, 4:45pm, TassieCare Park LIVE STREAM