A big weekend of local football looms as we reach the Quarter Final stage of the Statewide Cup Competitions, with the final four of the Lakoseljac and Women's Statewide Cups set to be determined this weekend.
Lions/City Rematch Headlines Cup Quarters
In the pick of the Lakoseljac Cup Quarter Finals, the Kingborough Lions will play host to Launceston City. It's a rematch of a recent encounter in the league, with the pair facing off at Lightwood Park just a fortnight ago, a game the Lions won in a tightly fought encounter 2-1 after trailing at half time.
Speaking at Friday's media conference, Lions coach Alfred Hess said there were pros and cons to having played each other so recently.
"We only played them 2 weeks ago in the league, it was a bit of an arm wrestle but fortunately, we got the result," he said.
"I am sure [coach Daniel] Syson and his team will have worked hard to make adjustments in their approach since then. The experience (of playing them recently) is useful in some respects, but there is also the trade-off that they might know what to expect.
"In that regard I expect some astute tactical adjustments from Syson and his team, so it certainly works both ways."
The Lions boss said it was a massive occasion for his side and it would require them at their best to advance.
"We are putting a lot of importance on it, and to win would mean a lot but we will need to be at the top of our game to get the desired result," he said.
When asked about the threat posed by the form of City's star striker Thierry Swaby, Hess suggested they were well aware of his quality, but would largely back in their own structures to handle his threat rather than lay special plans.
"I think one of our big strengths at the moment is our defensive organisation and players knowing their roles, but he is someone we have to be aware of, he has great qualities and is an absolute threat," he said.
"So we are certainly conscious of him, and Joel Stone is also a bit of a conductor for them so those two linking is something we need to be aware of, but it won’t fall too far outside of our usual defensive organisation and approach."
Launceston City defender Joey McShane said he was delighted to have a talent like Swaby on his side.
"He is super athletic, a very smart player and a great guy to have around," he said.
"He is one of those guys you just want on your team, you’ve just a good chance of winning any game you play when you have somebody like that in your forward line."
He also praised goalkeeper Lachie Clark for his contributions, with the City gloveman in superb form this season for his side.
"Lachie is unreal, I have nothing but good things to say about him. He gives us another level of confidence, the security he offers the defence, he is magic," he said.
City may enter the game as underdogs, but having bounced South Hobart in the previous stage and held the Strikers to a draw at Valley Road in the league, McShane said his side feared nobody.
"We’re all super confident going into this game," he said.
"I feel like we are just getting better and better as a side. We are linking up really well. We’re confident we can beat anyone on our day; that doesn’t change going up against anyone. We go into every game super confident and play a similar style of football regardless of who we are playing, we just trying to outwork our opponent and bring the energy, that’s been our big thing.”
In other Quarter Final action, two of the other three games will feature Championship sides taking on NPL opposition, with Hobart City FC and South East United facing tough outings against Devonport and Glenorchy Knights respectively. Hobart City will have the home-field advantage to call upon, but sitting winless and in 9th place in the Championship at present suggests they face a majorly uphill task.
South East United have posted a 2-2-1 record through their first five league games and have a side filled with former NPL Tas talent, meaning Knights will need to be on guard, having been held to draws the past 2 weeks after a scorching start to the season, but they will still be expected to advance.
The final Quarter Final will be another all-NPL Tasmania affair with the Clarence Zebras favoured to advance against Riverside Olympic. Both sides have 1 win and 4 losses from their opening five league games, but the Zebras have a 13 goal superior goal differential from those matches and have home-ground advantage here as they look to punch their ticket to the final four.
Bees Looking to Be Giant Killers In Women's Statewide Cup
The Women's Statewide Cup will also feature a Championship v top division side, as Launceston United take on University at Birch Avenue on Sunday, with the Bees looking to play giant-killers against a side with a tremendous record in the competition.
Launceston United stalwart Katie Hill said her side was facing somewhat of an unknown quantity in the Bees, but that they just needed to focus on getting their own game right.
"It’s one of those interesting Cup games where we don’t really know much about our opponents having not played them before, so it’s a little bit of excitement that the cup brings with a few more unknowns than the league does," she said.
"We’ve just got to stick to our structures and keep working as we have been and try to put together a more consistent game across the full 90 minutes or 120 if it goes that way, as it can.
"So for us it's been about focusing on our lineups, structures, work rate and really trying to go hard from the first whistle which is something we need to have a bit more control over."
Hill said her side loved playing in the Cup, with the knockout format bringing a different element to the matches.
"We’ve now made the Cup final three years in a row since coming into the WSL and that's something we would like to continue," she said
"So it's very important to us and to the club that we bring out our best game on the weekend.
"Having the higher stakes of a knockout competition brings a sense of immediacy you don’t necessarily have in the league. It's an all-or-nothing situation where there has to be a result out of the game and it's always interesting to see how players handle that different sort of pressure to that which the league brings."
United have been involved in some thrilling WSL clashes this year, scoring twice late on to beat Riverside last weekend, which Hill thought would hold them in good stead for the Cup.
"It's good for a playing group to know they have the resilience to overcome some of the hurdles we overcame last week," she said.
"We were missing some key players and to see the girls really dig in and pull out that result was phenomenal. It's good for us to know that as a group we have that resilience, that’s a value we have as a team, so we will keep pushing for however long the game goes for."
University Coach Amey Jambakar said his side were relishing the opportunity ahead of them.
“It’s really exciting and good to have made it through to the next round this time around," he said.
"We had a hard win against Olympia who pushed us and we are excited to play in this game."
With the Bees entering as major underdogs, Jambakar felt there was nothing to lose for his side and therefore the pressure was all on the opposition.
"We have seen some upsets happen already this year, at the end of the day we don’t have anything to lose as the Championship team, so the pressure is more on Launceston United than it is us," he said.
"So we are going to put our best foot forward, play as a team and then see what happens after that.
"It's all about what happens on the day, who rocks up for the full 90 or 120 minutes. We had a harsh lesson in 120 minutes of football two years back when we took Kingborough all the way, but failed after 90."
Jambakar said his playing group was excited about the upcoming challenge and embracing the road trip element.
"With WSL you get to travel, but in the Championship you don’t, so the girls make it a big thing to travel North and it’s always a fun trip scenario. We are not fussed about what draw we get; we have never played at Birch Avenue so we are excited to go there.
“Football is a funny game, as they say, anything can happen, but if we go in with a mentality of 'we are going to lose' then there is no point going.
"We have a massive respect for Launceston United and the team they are, we know it's going to be a hard game to play but we will see what we can do."
There will be just two other Quarter Finals played this weekend, with Devonport already advancing to the Semi Final stage following a forfeit from Burnie United. That leaves a pair of all-WSL affairs to decide the final two spots.
The Kingborough Lions will be looking for a sharp bounce back after a disappointing performance against Knights last weekend, when they take on a plucky Riverside outfit who have shown a capacity to score goals and almost produced a major boilover against Launceston United last weekend.
Also looking to bounce back will be South Hobart, who fell last weekend to Devonport but beat their upcoming opponents Glenorchy Knights by a decisive 10-0 margin just a fortnight ago. South may not have it quite as easy this time around though, with the Knights producing a much better showing last weekend to score their first WSL victory, crushing the Lions 6-2 to suggest they should be far more competitive this time around.
Lakoseljac Cup
Saturday 27 April
Hobart City FC v Devonport Strikers, 2:30PM, Sandown Park
Clarence Zebras v Riverside Olympic, 2:30PM, Wentworth Park
Glenorchy Knights v South East United, 3:00PM, KGV
Kingborough Lions v Launceston City FC, 4:45PM, Lightwood Park
Women’s Statewide Cup
Saturday 27 April
Kingborough Lions v Riverside Olympic, 2:30 PM Lightwood Park
Sunday 28 April
Launceston United SC v University, 2:30PM, Birch Ave
Glenorchy Knights v South Hobart, 2:30PM, KGV