Welcome to the Friday Forecast ahead of Round 19 in the MyState Bank Women’s Super League as we creep ever closer to the finish line. There are just three rounds left to play out as the title fight goes down to the wire. Can Launceston United turn around their recent form and close things out, or will they leave the door ajar for South Hobart, and if so, can South take advantage? It promises to be an intriguing finale to what has been a closely fought season, let’s take a look at what lies in store for this weekend.
Surging Strikers Present South Difficult Obstacle
Saturday kicks off with a massive clash at Darcy Street as South Hobart plays host to the Devonport Strikers. South Hobart needs to win their final two games and hope for a United slip-up to win the title but getting three points from this match will be a difficult assignment. The Devonport Strikers did them a favour last week but could very well play spoiler this time around given the form line that they bring into this game. The Strikers enter this one unbeaten in their past eleven and riding a five match winning streak that includes a pair of three-goal victories over Clarence Zebras and Launceston United. They’ve been in scintillating touch, dominating matches and if the season was a full round longer, you’d fancy they’d be the title favourites at this state. A slightly slower start to the year than their rivals looks likely to cost them, but they are charging home and South are going to face a tough task taking them down even with the home ground advantage.
South’s form has also been sharp though winning their past four with their 6-0 thumping of Launceston United still in the rearview mirror. They weren’t quite at their best in the first half against the Lions last weekend, but the second half was an exercise in complete control as they bossed the contest to move into top spot.
Both head-to-head games between the sides this season have been epic encounters loaded with goals. These are two sides who like to attack and it has shone through when they’ve clashed. South survived a massive Strikers fightback in Round 5 to win 5-4 at Valley Road before they played out a similarly entertaining 3-3 at Darcy Street in Round 12.
So the stage is set for a cracking encounter with significant stakes. If Devonport win they would jump above South into second place and in the process they would surely end South’s title chances. Their own title hopes would require United slipping up twice in their final three games which seems particularly unlikely but a second-place finish would still be a very impressive achievement and would be firmly on the cards with a win here.
United Should Get on Track at Home
With the Darcy Street game kicking off early at 11:30am, Launceston United will know the score in that one by the time they kick off against Taroona later in the afternoon. If South wins then they will be four points behind with two games in hand on them but regardless of what transpires at Darcy Street this should be a reasonably straightforward assignment on their home patch at Floorworld Park. It really should be a bounce-back win for the Northerners against a side they have comfortably accounted for in both their matches this season.
Victories of 5-1 and 5-0 in the two head-to-head meetings combined with Taroona’s dismal record against sides above them on the table means United enter this game as overwhelming favourites and it would be a major shock if they were to drop points here and cede the edge to South Hobart in the title race.
The ace up Launceston United’s sleeve for some time now has been the softer back end to their fixtures. They could always afford to drop those games to South Hobart and Devonport so long as they took care of business against the bottom three sides in the final few weeks. With those sides having not done that all season, the league crown is still very much in United’s hands even if they have eroded the safety net they had built in recent weeks.
Taroona put in a more competitive effort against other competition big guns, South Hobart and Clarence Zebras over the past fortnight, losing 3-1 and 4-1 which represents an improvement on some of their earlier season results but it would still take their best performance of the season if they were to play spoiler here. They will be hoping that perhaps the mental pressure of not wanting to throw away the title from such a dominant position, gets to United and if they can sneak an early goal perhaps those doubts will start to build. All the mental pressure in the world won’t count for much unless their defence can be significantly tighter than it has all season, however.
Lions Eyeing Sweep of Warriors
Before the action at the top end of the table gets underway on Saturday, the Round will get underway tonight with the Kingborough Lions hosting the Olympia Warriors under the lights of Clennett’s Lightwood Park.
The Lions four victories have come from the four games against sides below them, which is why they sit so clearly in fifth place with large gaps above and below them. Like the Warriors the Lions have found themselves unable to take points from the sides above them, but whilst the points gap might not suggest it, they’ve probably been closer to the sides above them than below in terms of their level of play. Victories of 9-3 and 6-1 over the Warriors in their two meetings highlight that factor and is why they will be firmly expecting to complete the sweep and make it 3/3 with a win tonight.
The Lions continue to be a dangerous side in possession who pose tough questions for defences. Their issues have been almost entirely out of possession, which should give the Warriors some hope they can get on the scoreboard here, but they still seemingly lack the weapons to seriously test them in terms of pushing for the three points. Still, this will be their second-best opportunity for a first positive result of the year from their final three games. The match against Taroona next week represents their best chance of breaking their duck, but this is also an outside chance if they can produce an effort like they did away to Launceston United just a few weeks prior.