Match of the Round: Devonport Strikers v South Hobart
Contenders To Clash At Valley Road
The big games keep on coming in the NPL Tasmania, and it's currently extremely tight at the top end of the table, with just a single point between the top four sides. The top four will now play amongst themselves this week, creating opportunities for those sides to steal an early march in the title race.
One of those big fixtures will be at Valley Road as the Devonport Strikers play host to South Hobart in battle of last season's top two sides.
Both sides have posted three wins and a draw from their opening four fixtures, though with the Strikers having played sides sitting 5th-8th on the table, they have had an easier draw than South so far. The difficulty of their fixture now ratchets up over the next month, starting with South this weekend.
Coach Tom Ballantyne said he was happy with where his side sat entering the contest.
"It should be another cracker of a game. We’ve started the season reasonably well, but not quite at the level we were preseason. Having some players returning from injury and things like that has just hampered some of the chemistry that we had, but we’ve been creating more opportunities than we were at this time last year, so we are pretty happy with where we are.”
He identified a couple of key attackers in the South Hobart side as the players his side needed to stop.
“Alex Walter and Nick Morton will be two that we need to keep an eye on. They’ve got a couple of new faces in there that we are still familiarising ourselves with, but those are the main two we need to keep tabs on.”
Ballantyne kept a close eye on South's game with Knights last weekend, and was expecting a similar approach from them this weekend.
“We watched that game, studied that game, went over and over it and it’s what we’ve used as our template for what to expect. We’ve looked at what happened in that game, what positions they played, and how they played, in order to try give ourselves the best idea of what we can expect from South.” he said.
South Hobart Assistant Coach Josh Dinjan said he was happy with how the side performed in that match.
"It was another classic game, I think both teams performed very well. It ended up being a bit of a stalemate for most of the first half, but we grew into the game as it went on. If we look to take our opportunities a bit better, we might’ve had a few more goals but it was good to see we could implement what we worked on during the week, to get forward and get those chances, and create those scoring looks."
Dinjan said getting a result from the difficult trip to Valley Road was about sticking to plan.
"We just need to stick to our gameplan, we are pretty confident in what we’ve got with the personnel. We’ve just got to go up there and get the job done. If we had of taken the win last week it would’ve made this week a bit more comfortable, but we will kep grinding through, we have a team that doesn’t quit so we will look to get another 3 points up there to start off the season and continue our run."
Dinjan suggested the group was coming together nicely and wasn't expecting major changes to the starting XI.
"There won’t be any major changes to the squad from last week, we will just be looking to build on the squad we had and go from there."
"The team has gelled pretty well, the group we have really supports each other in everything they do off the pitch and on. They've really bought into our philosophy in what we want to do and achieve this year. So I think the group is coming together well and hopefully that continues throughout the season.”
Tight Round 4 Fixures In Prospect
In other Round 5 action, things will get underway on Friday night with a pair of fixtures under lights.
At KGV the Glenorchy Knights take on a potential title rival in the Kingborough Lions in what should be a massive clash for both side's title aspirations. The Knights will feel they should’ve taken all three points away from Darcy Street last week, but at least took something away from the match thanks to Riley Dillon’s late strike. The Lions meanwhile have won their past 3 matches to close within a point of the top spot and they could even end the Round on top should they win this and Devonport draw with South Hobart on Saturday.
At Windsor Park, something has to give as Riverside Olympic and Launceston United meet in a battle of the bottom two. With both sides sitting without a point through the opening month, that is set to change as at least one side will open their accounts here. It represents an excellent chance for both sides to get a first win and so the stakes are high, with both sides realising this represents their best chance at a breakthrough.
On Saturday evening at Tassie Care Park, Launceston City will return to their home deck for the first time since Round 1 as they take on the Clarence Zebras. The Zebras will be riding high after last weekend’s big breakthrough win over Launceston United but they will have their work cut out against a City side who have been competitive in a tough stretch of fixtures over the past three weeks, beating South Hobart, drawing with Devonport before going down narrowly to the Lions last week. The form of their goalkeeper Lachie Clark has been a particular standout in this period.
Round 5
Friday 19 April
Riverside Olympic v Launceston United, 8:15pm, Windsor Park LIVE STREAM
Glenorchy Knights v Kingborough Lions, 8:15pm, KGV LIVE STREAM
Saturday 20 April
Devonport Strikers v South Hobart, 2:30pm, Valley Road LIVE STREAM
Launceston City v Clarence Zebras, 4:45pm, TassieCare Park LIVE STREAM