Welcome to the Friday Forecast for Round 7 of the MyState Bank Women’s Super League. With the competition’s top two sides set to meet, it’s set to be a pivotal weekend before we take a break for Semi Final Weekend in the Statewide Cup, which will feature rematches from two of this weekend’s games.
Top of the Table Showdown at Valley Road
The lone game on Saturday is the game of the Round and could quite possibly prove to be one of the biggest games of the season; it’s certainly the biggest to date. The Devonport Strikers will host South Hobart in a battle between the competition’s current top two sides and the emerging front runners in the title race.
With both sides having defeated the defending champions, Launceston United in recent weeks, it's these two sides who have jumped out early as the title fancies and so this shapes as a chance to strike a blow against that major rival. The Strikers can draw level on points with South should they claim victory, whilst a win to South would see a gap of six points opening up on top. There is a lot of football to come in 2023, so it won’t be a decisive blow that is dealt, but the advantage will be firmly in the court of whoever can take the points.
If we get a clash anything like their first meeting, then we are in for a treat. The pair’s Round 2 clash was the game of the season to date, as South Hobart roared back from a 3-0 deficit to claim a dramatic 3-3 draw thanks to Lucy Robert’s stoppage-time equaliser. It was a pulsating affair that had drama aplenty, some top-quality goals and was played at a high standard. So often these types of games turn into rather cagey affairs with sides not wanting to take risks, but hopefully, we get the same boldness we saw that day and same desire to play in an attacking manner.
The Strikers shrugged off a poor couple of weeks by comfortably defeating Launceston United 3-0 last weekend in what was their best performance of the season. That it came after what had been comfortably their poorest fortnight was an encouraging sign and was absolutely vital for them given this 3-week stretch of United/South/South.
That’s the other wrinkle to this game, the pair are set to meet at the same time and place next week in the Women’s Statewide Cup Semi-Final. Whoever wins that is going to be favourites in any Cup final and both sides can score an early psychological blow with victory in the league this weekend.
A Further Semi Final Preview at Floorworld Park
On Sunday we will see a preview of the other Statewide Cup Semi-Final as Launceston United welcomes the Kingborough Lions to Floorworld Park. Whilst the venue will be flipped next week to KGV, this should give us a useful look into what to expect there, as well as being an important game in its own right.
For United, it’s an important game to get their title defence back on track with a victory. Having suffered defeats in two of their past three league games, they need a response here and if South were to lose on Saturday, then they could close back within a point of top spot with a victory. Whilst they haven’t quite been hitting the heights of 2022 so far this year, they’ve still got some quality in this squad, including a lethal attacking trio of Gunton, Marten and Smith who will give the Lions defence a stern test.
Winning could be easier said than done against a Lions outfit starting to round into some nice form. A competitive defeat to South Hobart was sandwiched between strong performances in wins over the Zebras and Taroona and they seem to be entering this game playing better than they were when they met previously this season. That came back in Round 2 where United claimed a 2-0 victory in a game they were challenged in but got stronger as the match wore on. The Lions had some chances in the first half of that game that just might've made things different had they been able to take them however, and they've looked a more clinical team in recent weeks, leaving this fixture nicely poised to entertain.
Zebras Look To Bounce Back Against Taroona
The final game of the weekend will see Clarence Zebras taking on Taroona at Wentworth Park.
The Zebras came crashing back to earth last weekend, falling 3-0 to South Hobart after their stunning 5-1 demolition of the Strikers the Round prior. That performance has shown the ceiling, but they showed few signs of that dynamic attack against South Hobart and struggled to create clear scoring openings.
Taroona meanwhile continues to struggle but they did find the back of the net twice last weekend and stitched together probably their best 45 minutes of the season in the second half. Putting together a full 90 remains their challenge, but they did put in their best performance of the season the last time they clashed with the Zebras.
That game came back in Round 2 and saw the Pirates hold the Zebras at bay for 75 minutes in a stalemate before eventually the Zebras territorial dominance told and they ran over the top of them by scoring 3 times in the final 15 minutes. For much of the game, the Pirates defence did a really good job of stifling the Zebras attackers and that is what they need to do once again, just for a little longer this time around if they are to get their first points.
The Zebras though will be expecting to chalk up their third win of the season here and hope for the chance to bridge the gap that is starting to open up significantly to the competition's top three sides.
Round 7
Saturday 13 May
Devonport v South Hobart, Valley Road, 12.15pm
Sunday 14 May
Clarence v Taroona, Wentworth Park, 2.30pm
Launceston United v Kingborough, Birch Avenue, 4.15pm