Welcome to the Friday Forecast for Round 12 of the MyState Bank Women’s Super League season. It should be another interesting weekend of WSL action, as the ladder leaders South Hobart face a tough trip to Valley Road to take on an in-form Devonport, the defending Champions Launceston United face a trip to a new look Lightwood Park, and Taroona eye a breakthrough victory against the Clarence Zebras.
Valley Road Turns Pink As Strikers Face Crunch Fixture
The first match of the weekend is the game of the round and one of the most important fixtures left on the schedule. The suddenly surging Devonport Strikers play host to South Hobart at Valley Road, as they look to translate their strong form of the past fortnight into cutting South’s lead from the 9 points currently separating the pair.
The two sides have played three times already this season, twice in the league and once in the Women’s Statewide Cup. The Strikers raced out to a 3-0 lead at Darcy Street in the first meeting back in Round 2 before South hauled them in and claimed a late 3-3 draw in a thrilling encounter. The next two clashes have come at Valley Road and both have resulted in South Hobart victories. The WSL meeting was the closer of the two clashes that were played in consecutive weeks, as South rallied back from 1-0 down and scored twice in the final 15 minutes to win 3-1. The Cup was by far the most comfortable of the results, a thumping 5-2 win South Hobart. So South certainly hold the head-to-head edge heading into this match, but if the Strikers are any chance of getting back in the title race, then this is a must-win encounter.
The past two weeks has seen Devonport snapping back to their best and scoring two massive wins, 5-0 over Launceston United and 7-0 over the Clarence Zebras. After a period of stuttering results, they are now playing much more like the side we saw across the opening rounds of the season, with the form of Renske Rombouts and Jazmin White standing out in recent games. They’ve no wiggle room left in pursuit and simply must take advantage of this chance to pick up 3 points and deny South any, given the ladder leaders haven’t dropped points to a bottom 3 side this year.
South’s past two weeks have been strong too though, downing the Zebras 6-0 and Lions 4-0 as they carried their momentum from their breakthrough Statewide Cup triumph. This match, along with another trip to Floorworld Park are the two toughest fixtures remaining on their schedule. If they can avoid slipping up, it will represent an enormous leap towards a maiden league title. A draw would be a fine result for them, though I doubt that will be the mentality of the players who will want to keep up this winning streak.
The game will also be part of the Devonport Strikers Pink Day, an annual event on the calendar now that sees Valley Road turn pink and raise funds for the McGrath Foundation. It’s always a good occasion to raise funds for a worthy cause, more information can be found via this link.
Launceston United Out To Crash Den Re-opening
After a patchy couple of weeks, defending champions Launceston United will be looking to get back to their best form, and get their title defence back on track, as they travel south to take on the Kingborough Lions.
For the first time this season, the game will take place at Lightwood Park, with the Lions finally able to get on their newly renovated pitch following the redevelopment work at the venue. It should be a big day for the club and a welcome return for the players who have been without a traditional home-ground advantage for the first half of the season.
The Lions form has been a bit yo-yo-like this year, as they have now spent the past 8 weeks in a cycle of win/loss. If they are to continue that trend here, having lost last week, then they will need to reverse another trend, which is getting a positive result against a Launceston United team who has defeated them in both WSL meetings this season. Both those prior meetings were close matches, with United claiming a 2-0 win in Round 2 and a 3-2 win in their more recent clash at Floorworld Park.
United are still sitting in second place in the league, sitting between the two sides set to meet earlier on Saturday, but their form of the past fortnight since falling in the Statewide Cup Final, has faltered as injuries have struck them. A heavy defeat to Devonport was followed by a narrow escape at Kelvedon Park, requiring a last-minute winner to sneak past Taroona FC. They got the 3 points though which is the main thing and will be the requirement once again this week even if they aren’t able to field a full-strength XI. They need to ride this period out and maintain touch with South Hobart.
Taroona Eyeing First Win Against Slumping Zebras
On Sunday the Clarence Zebras will look to arrest a mini-slump, but it might not be as straightforward as it would have seemed earlier in the season, as they take on a rapidly improving Taroona FC side at Wentworth Park.
The Zebras have been overwhelmed by two of the big guns of the competition in the past fortnight, suffering heavy defeats to South Hobart and Devonport, surrendering 13 goals in the process. As a young side these types of dips in season are liable to happen and a bounce-back spot against the last-placed side seems a timely fixture for them. Yet this now looms as a far more difficult proposition than the last two times they’ve taken on the Pirates in 2023, resulting in 3-0 and 4-0 victories.
Since their last meeting in Round 7, Taroona have completely turned a corner, going from averaging 6 goals against per game across their first 7 matches to conceding just 7 in total across their past four matches. They’ve got a breakthrough point in that time, and have not allowed more than 2 goals against in a match. Now they just need to work on closing out matches, having been denied a point in the past fortnight by conceding last-minute winners two weeks in a row. They are knocking on the door for a first win, and against a Zebras side that has lagged a little the past fortnight, this looks as good a chance as they will get for that breakthrough.
Round 12
Saturday 1 July
Devonport Strikers v South Hobart, Valley Road, 12:15pm
Kingborough Lions v Launceston United, Lightwood Park, 2:30pm
Sunday 2 July
Clarence Zebras v Taroona FC, Wentworth Park, 2.30pm