Welcome to the Friday Forecast as we take a look at the upcoming Round 15 action in the MyState Bank Women’s Super League as sides begin to play each other for the third and final time this season. It’s a big weekend for Devonport with their annual pink game being staged against the Kingborough Lions, whilst Launceston United face one of their biggest remaining hurdles in their title bid taking on the Zebras. Should United slip up then South Hobart have a great chance to close the gap to them in Sunday’s lone fixture against Olympia.
Valley Road To Turn Pink as Strikers Host Lions
Valley Road is set to turn into a sea of pink on Saturday with the Devonport Strikers' hosting their annual Pink Day, raising funds for the McGrath Foundation and breast cancer awareness. It’s a concept that started in 2019 and has now become a part of the footballing calendar. It’s a fantastic initiative, spearheaded by Nathan Pitchford and should be a great day for all involved. Special pink playing kits will be worn by the players and that Pink Day theme will continue into the night with proceeds from their ‘Dress to Impress’ function further supporting the McGrath Foundation. They’ve done a tremendous job in building this day up and would encourage anyone in the area to head along and support a great cause.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit: https://devonportstrikers.com.au/pinkday/
Or you can donate directly by visiting: https://fundraise.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/fundraisers/devonportstrikersinpink/devonport-strikers-go-pink
As for the game itself, well Devonport will be the red-hot favourites, especially coming into this game off the back of their commanding 4-1 win over the Clarence Zebras last week.
The Strikers are now unbeaten since they played the Clarence Zebras for the first time, falling 1-0 at Valley Road back on May 14th. Since then, they have won 4 and drawn 2 as they’ve consistently improved throughout the season and upped their level. They should have too much about themselves here for a Lions side who’ve struggled against the best sides this year. The Strikers are 2-0 in their 2 head-to-head games this year, narrowly winning the first game 3-2 before sweeping past them 7-1 in the second clash which came at Valley Road.
Suffice to say the Lions will be looking for a performance closer to what they offered in Round 1, than the thumping they copped last time they travelled to this venue. They welcomed back Laura Davis as they swept past Taroona last week, but that was a game they completely dominated and did all the attacking in. Their defence has struggled against the best sides this season and they are going to face a far sterner examination this weekend. Can they be as effective without the ball as they were with it last week? To take anything from this surging Strikers side, they will certainly need to be.
United Facing Season Defining Fortnight
Current league leaders Launceston United have the chance to all but sew up the title in the next fortnight as they face a pair of matches set to determine the outcome 2022 WSL title race. This week they take on the Clarence Zebras at Wentworth Park before they play host to South Hobart next week. They don’t even really need to be winning these games, just so long as they don’t lose both games they will still be firmly in the box seat to hoist the trophy. Their game in hand is against the Warriors so they are essentially 8 points clear on top now and they play the bottom 3 in the final 3 weeks in what should also be a fairly bankable 9 points for them. So a win from this one on Saturday against the Zebras and they would only need to win those remaining games against the bottom 3 sides to reach a points tally South cannot eclipse even if they were to win all their remaining games.
Do the Zebras have the appetite to be able to claim a win on the road against such a strong side? They can’t win the title at this point, so the motivation factor certainly plays in favour of United. If it’s close late on, you’d fancy the hosts have that extra drive to dig a little deeper given the potential rewards awaiting them. When the Strikers got a couple of goals clear last week, the Zebra’s fightback just never looked like it was going to occur. That said, they are still a very dangerous opponent and had they not missed a couple of chances in the first half that were gilt-edged, it might’ve changed the entire trajectory of the match. They didn’t though and the Strikers slammed the door shut on them. Should this game follow a similar script then it might well be the title race that United are slamming shut this time around.
Goal Difference Come Into Focus Against Warriors
Should United slip up in some capacity then South Hobart will be waiting to put the pressure on as they take on Olympia on Sunday with goal difference firmly at the front of mind.
The two earlier meetings between these sides this year have both been decidedly one-sided. Round 1 saw South Hobart winning 3-0 in a game that saw them squander an enormous amount of prime goal-scoring chances and should’ve been a lot more. The second time around they were more ruthless and won 10-0. With goal difference still a chance to play a role in things, South would do well to try and replicate that ruthless display here. With Olympia unable to field a team last week, personnel availability issues are clearly still plaguing them and so South will be expecting a comfortable win once again here.
Let’s say hypothetically that United draw with Zebras, then lose to South and Devonport in their next 3 games with South winning their next 3 games. The sides would then be locked on points and goal difference would be what determined who was on top and possibly who won the title. This is why it was so important last week that it was a postponement and not a forfeit from the Warriors against Launceston United. If United only had one chance to play Olympia this year and South 3, then that’s a significant disadvantage. United already missed out once on the goal difference boost this year and if they were to only get a 3-0 result for a second time, then that would be manifestly inadequate.
Now, fortunately, I don’t think that scenario is particularly likely at all. I think United will slam shut the title race in the next couple of weeks and it just won’t come down to it. But it’s the type of possibility that still exists and why United were quite justified in making some noise around this issue. If they did lose the title in such a manner, it would be grand larceny.