Welcome to the Friday Forecast for Round 10 of the MyState Bank Women's Super League season. After this weekend we will have reached the halfway mark of the season with everybody having played each other twice.
Lions Face Improving Pirates
The lone game on Saturday pits the Kingborough Lions up against Taroona at the Kingston Twin Ovals.
Taroona seemingly turned a corner before the week off for the Cup Final, which probably came at a bad time for them. They surely would’ve preferred to try to build off the momentum of their breakthrough result, a commendable 1-1 draw away to the Devonport Strikers. Instead, they’ve had to wait a week to ready themselves for the Kingborough Lions. Given the Lions are currently the side nearest to them on the table, sitting in fifth, this should be a game they can target and now that they’ve got their first point of the season, the aim becomes achieving that first victory of the season. Whilst that might be more achievable at Kelvedon Park than on the road, the fact that points are now a realistic objective shows that things have begun to shift after a tough start to the year. Certainly, players back from injuries have played their role, but they’ve also been far more structurally solid defensively in the past two matches, which has led to their two best performances of the year.
Still, you can’t weigh the past two games too strongly against an entire season’s worth of work, and whilst Taroona have certainly gotten their act together, the Lions deserve to be considered clear favourites for this match, despite some inconsistent form. They’ve now gone win/loss for the past 6 league games, the most recent of which was a 3-2 defeat to the Clarence Zebras. They probably created enough chances to get something from that match, but couldn’t take their chances in the second half or solve Monique Pinkiewicz. If that pattern continues, they should win this week, just as they did the last times these sides met, when it was a comfortable 6-2 win for the Lions. They scored all six in the opening 40 minutes before taking the foot off the accelerator in the second half. With Davis, Lashmar and Moutsatsos playing some good football of late, they certainly have the firepower to once again cause Taroona plenty of headaches at the back.
United Out To Bounce Back Against Faltering Strikers
The Game of the Round will take place at Floorworld Park with Launceston United taking on the Devonport Strikers as second meets third on the Super League table.
United will look to pick themselves up off the canvas after Monday’s heartbreak in the Statewide Cup Final and begin their pursuit of South Hobart as they attempt to defend their league crown, having now ceded the Cup crown. They currently sit four points back, so they're within striking distance if they can find their best football in the second half of the year.
That pursuit took a blow with the news Courtney Marten will be returning to the USA, robbing them of a classy goal scorer who had struck 9 times in the league this season. Adilat Otto seems likely to take her place in attack, with Madi Gilpin shifting back into the starting line-up now she is a few weeks returned. So they have the quality to bring into the starting line-up, but that obviously hurts their depth.
A win for United would see them move eight points clear of the Strikers, which could well prove insurmountable in the second half of the season. A win for Devonport however and that gap closes back to just two points, and it’s very much game on in the race for second.
After the first month, the Strikers looked every bit like title challengers. They had faded out in the second half away to South Hobart, but the 3-3 draw was still their only blemish as they claimed 10 points from the opening four games. Since that day, they’ve only added four more points in the next five games and shipped 11 goals in the two road trips in that stretch.
The bright spot and positive for the Strikers heading into this match is that one win came against this week’s opponents in Launceston United and it was an emphatic one. They claimed a 3-0 victory at Valley Road in one of their better performances of the season. Whilst the performances around that have been patchy, that was a superb display that showed what they can do at their best. If they produce a similar level here, then they will offer a massive test for United and it should lead to an intriguing game on Sunday afternoon.
With An Eye To The Double South Return To The League
In the final game of the round, the Clarence Zebras will host South Hobart at Wentworth Park.
Fresh off their Statewide Cup triumph, the focus now returns to the league, where South will look to emulate Launceston United’s feat from last season and complete the league/cup double.
They find themselves well poised to do so, currently sitting four points clear on top and unbeaten in the league through the opening nine rounds. They’ve gotten stronger as the season has worn on and if Monday’s performance is anything to go by, it's hard to see who will stop them. They have weapons on every line and are firing on all cylinders. Their midfield continues to dominate matches, with Choi and Roberts once again outstanding in the Cup Final, just as they have been throughout the WSL season. The Zebras have a strong midfield of their own with Baez, Burt and Gadon all classy operators and the midfield battle is set to be a compelling one.
The last meeting between the two saw South Hobart running out 3-0 winners as Caitlin Stalker haunted her former side as she made a starring debut for South. The first 45 minutes of that game was a scrappy encounter in which the Zebras did a really good job in disrupting South’s build-up play. When South upped the tempo in the second half, the Zebras couldn’t go with them, but the first 45 shows the recipe for how to slow down the current league leaders. Doing it for 90 minutes, is a challenge no team has been able to manage so far however.
Round 10
Saturday 17 June
Kingborough Lions v Taroona FC, 2:00pm, Kingston Twin Ovals
Sunday 18 June
Launceston United v Devonport Strikers, 2:00pm, Floorworld Park
Clarence Zebras v South Hobart, 2:00pm, Wentworth Park