Saturdays Results

NPL

Somerset 7 Def Launceston United 0

Devonport 4 Def Riverside 0

Prospect 2 Def Burnie 1

Laaunceston City 2 Lost to Rangers 3

V League

Devonport 5 def Rangers 2

Launceston City 3 Drew with Glenorchy Knights 3

Round 11 will be Exciting

At the end of Round 11 the ladder could well change again with different positions up for grabs. With the second leg under way all teams now know how each side plays and how to maybe roll the opposition. With games again scattered across time Saturday the keen NPL follower could well watch a few games in a row.

Launceston City v Rangers 12:00pm Mitsubishi Park

This is one of the great encounters on show this week with two arch rivals having a HIT OUT. One would think Rangers would be favourites as of late but he rumours or truths that are circulating Launceston City could well change these stats.

The Victory League are supposed to have recruited hard these last few week with signing a player from Western Australia, 2 from Melbourne and the latest is to be from Ireland. With the players to be included to the V League will see players drop back to the NPL and strengthen their side. Also with juniors like Domonic Rossi the side is building nicely for the Rangers clash.

On the other hand the Rangers have had some injures to the V league side which will hurt the NPL team. But with the style the Rangers play and the juniors they have coming through should be able to match City right across the park.

Spokes man Brendan Litchendonk had these words to say from the Rangers camp” We have Launceston City this week, whom we only narrowly beat in our home fixture, they are improving across their club, and it will be a hard game to win with out doubt.  

We have a number of injuries in our Victory League Squad this week, so we look to our younger players, who have been playing well, to secure the result.  Chris Collins was outstanding last week against Launceston United, so he may be looked at again this week to provide more consistency up front.

We have great respect for City, and will give them everything we have in search of the win that will give us a huge shot at making the top four, a Loss will make our plight that much harder.

Somerset V Launceston United 2:30 Shark Park

This week Somerset are hosting a gala day kicking off with their under 14 teams at 9 am then the big boys and women start after that.with the gala day it is so sponsors and life members day which will bring a big crowed for the NPL kick off at 2:30. Somerset know that they cant take United lightly even though they haven’t won a game year in the league. Round 1 encounter saw the Sharks win by a big margin and hope to continue this tomorrow. Somerset’s coach Considine has this to say” After yet another week off, the Sharks are hopeful of returning to its second half form against Rangers from a fortnight ago. If the Sharks can play with that intensity again, they should collect the points against the improving Launceston United. The Sharks will welcome back James Nettleton & Sam Phillips Crole, and may be at full strength for the first time in the league this season?

Prospect V Burnie United 2:30 pm Prospect Park

This game should be another cracker with both teams playing the same style and very physical. A jump across the fence from the City V Rangers game and you find your self getting your second NPL fix in a row.

Prospect will be very disappointed with the result last week knowing they should have beat Ulverstone at home and with  the Reds down to 10 men. I’m sure ray Heald will have his troops fired up for this home game and will know Burnie will also be on a high from last week. A loss here will see Prospect slide away from the top 4. Ray had this to say” Disappointing game for knights last week, had plenty of chances to win the game, but our young players seem to lack the ability to score when needed, the two week break also not good for any team, FFT should work on this and try to avoid it happening in the future play state wide cup games under lights or on Sundays

Quite a few injuries from the Ulverstone game Nathan Butler cracked ribs Andy Complain calf unlikely to play, Mark Baker unavailable again will give the opportunity for some under 18 players  to fill the gaps.

Burnie coming off a good win, we will need to be at our best to get the points.

Burnie United will be travelling on the Bass Highway tomorrow full of confidence knowing they can keep up with the bigger clubs with the win against Riverside last week. With captain Andrew Gibson out for the year Trent Potts has stepped up from reserves and is now commanding the midfield battle. Club veteran Peter VanEk had these comments” Big game for burnie to prove its not just luck over the past few game. Knight have had some good wins in the first round and will prove hard to beat at Launceston. No change in burnie line up at this stage, but Stitz will be pushing to get back into the senior side.

Devonport V Riverside 4:30pm Valley Road

In the twilight match and the last for Round 11 will see Devonport host Riverside before the V League match between Devonport and the Rangers. Devonport have proven thus far how strong their club is and how much time they put into junior development seeing them sit on top of the NPL table. This week will see a great match with Riverside being fired up after some poor looses over the past few weeks. Devonport and NPL’s golden boot leader Peter Gilham has finally has his well deserved call up to the V League and will allow another junior to take his place. Rocket Andrews had this to say” We were very fortunate to get the 3 points against Riverside in Round 1,  and  we believe they are a lot better than their ladder position suggests

so we certainly wont be taking them lightly. Our side is a lot more settled than it was then, although this weekend will see some big personnel changes. We tried to keep Pete Gilham a secret for a while, but sadly Kenny and Nick saw through that and promoted him to the Victory League squad, and he will make his debut against Northern Rangers this weekend.

We will continue to play the way we have played all year. Its no secret that the style of football we play from Under 16s upwards  can leave us vulnerable at the back, but we don’t really care much as player development is still more important than winning titles, even at the NPL level.

We have half a dozen 16 year olds consistently playing Premier League at the moment , and they continue to learn and develop as players.

Riverside will be looking to get back on the winners list and to prove that they deserve to be in the top four. There is no better way to prove this than take on the top tea, Riverside have a lot of senior experience back this week and Wayne Penfold would be happy with this weeks team on paper and will be hoping the boys deliver the goods this week and he said this.

” This week we face a tough test against the talented Devonport side that currently sit on top of the ladder. Last week was a tough pill to swallow losing our 4^th game on the trot. Poor decision making is costing us and is something that the players are working on at training. This week we welcome back Todd Mitchell, Nick Meldrum and Sam Hughes to our line-up which will mean we will start with our strongest side we have had for 4-5 games. In the previous encounter with Devonport we felt we were good for a point atleast, but lost the game with pretty much the last kick of the match. Therefore we go into this game with an extra incentive to get a win. When we play to our best we think we can beat any team in the competition and don’t fear any teams, but we haven’t been playing anywhere near the standards that we expect of ourselves. What better time to start than against the current top team.

Ladder After Round 10

1	Devonport	9	8	0	1	33	12	21	24
2	Somerset	8	7	0	1	36	6	30	21
3	Ulverstone	9	6	0	3	20	11	9	18
4	Nth Rangers	9	5	0	4	16	14	2	15
5	Prospect	9	4	1	4	23	17	6	13
6	Riverside	9	3	1	5	13	16	-3	10
7	Burnie	9	3	0	6	10	26	-16	9
8	L'ton City	9	2	2	5	15	28	-13	8
9	L'ton United	9	0	0	9	3	39	-36	0

Weekend Results

NPL

Launceston City 3 lost to Devonport 4

Burnie United 1 def Riverside 0

Launceston United 0 lost to Rangers 2

Prospect 2 lost to Ulverstone 3

V League

South Hobart 3 def Devonport 1

Rangers 1 lost to Kingbourough 2

Launceston City 1 lost to Tilford Zebras 3

Let Round 10 Begin

There are some exciting games this week in the NPL and if one was sceptical about the quality in the league I would suggest to get along to one game in particular. There is still a fight for the top four positions with no one really cemented in yet and there could be more changes within the ladder this week. This week also throws up two games to be played on Sunday and will see Ulverstone travel to Prospect which in my opinion is a little crazy.

Round 10

Launceston City V Devonport 12.00pm Mitsubishi Park

With Launceston’s V League team after the NPL game will probably weaken City’s side and allow Devonport to take top spot with the Sharks having this weeks bye. Mal Gorrie and Rod Andrews would be letting their side know that nothing but a win this week is acceptable and for that matter if they want to win the league, No losses for the rest of the year. With the Strikers V League side travelling to Hobart on the same day this will also weaken their NPL side but have proven thus far that the young guys are very capable of winning with out a more senior presence. Peter Gilham if not called up the V League this week will be the wrecking ball for City and will need to shut him and the drive from Bo Blizzard. Junior Developer Rod Andrews said this

” NPL Coach Mal Gorrie is really happy with how things are travelling at the moment. We continue to develop and provide opportunities our young players, but at the same time provide a quality competitive environment for our more experienced team members. This weekend sees a fairly unsettled line up, with question marks surrounding the availability of a couple of players, as a result of injuries to V League squad members, but that will enable Mal to give some more game time to some NPL fringe players”.

City have a lot of experience in their side and will be looking to like likes of veteran Rodger Mies and Frosty to get them across the line in front of a big home crowed.

Burnie United V Riverside 2.30pm Montello

Burnie host Riverside in which will be one of the cracking games on show this week. With both sides looking to climb the ladder in the second half of the year every thing will be at stake as are both trying to hit the top four.

Riverside of late have had some results that have not gone their way. Narrowly loosing by a single goal and suffering suspensions, Will be looking to reverse these result and looking for a finals berth. Sam Hughs needs to start controlling the game and lifting his boys across the line.Wayne Penfold said this"With one round completed, we are not in the position I would have expected the team to be in. This week we face the very difficult test that is Burnie @ Montello. Although we dominated the first encounter at the start of the season we only came away with a 2-0 win. Recent results haven’t been anywhere acceptable and the players are very keen to get back on the winners list, but knowing full well that Burnie are a dangerous team at home.

Burnie United were very disappointed last week letting the points or point slip in the last few minutes against City last week.

The Burnie boys will be looking for a home win this week. With Peter VanEk back after a week off will only strengthen the back line. He also had these comments.

“Second round of the season and Burnie will be looking to at least double their wins from the first. No easy task as key mid-field player and Captain  Andrew Gibson has picked up a serious knee injury which will put him out for the rest of the season leaving a big hole in Burnie’s structure. Coach Ray Parke will have to do something creative to fill this void.

We take on Riverside at home this week, with the unlucky result last week against City, we will be keen to net some goals at home. Riverside where very physical against us in the first round and we will need to step it up a gear and really attack the ball. Kye Seymour has been a solid player finding his spot in the back line and will need to take charge to control the game. Ground is in really good nice too.

Launceston United V Rangers 2:30pm Birch Ave (SUNDAY)

In the first of the Sunday games bottom placed United take on 5th placed Rangers. United are still with out any points this year but know if they play good football on the day they can take it up to the Rangers after the first leg was evenly contested and United only going down by a goal.

Rangers will be looking g to play for 90 minutes this week after only playing competitive football last week for about 35 minutes. The Rangers NPL side play some nice fast free flowing football and should take the points. Spokesman Brendan Litchendonk said this” After a great first half last week against Somerset, we fell away and had a shocking second half, 90 minutes of football is the focus this week, and we should benefit from some additional experience form our Victory League players this Sunday against Launceston.

Our line up won't be certain until after the Victory League clash, but Alfred Williams and Harry Thannhauser have been excellent in our Under 20 player stakes, and we will look to them against Launceston again.  We need more consistency in midfield for the second half of the year if we are going to press for a top four spot and a chance to play in the finals.

Prospect Knights v Ulverstone 2:30pm Prospect Park (SUNDAY)

This is the game I spoke about at the start about being a craker. Both sides are in form and really play attacking football. Both sides are evenly matched on paper and also are both physical.

With the Knights having two weeks off will be really fresh and rareing to go. I always think a week or two weeks off hurts more than continually playing so im not sure if its good for the knights or not. Coachj Ray Heals said this” Out this week Mark Baker

IN Pip Atherton

The club is looking forward to playing again after a two week break.

Ulverstone have had a couple of good away wins.                                                                             

Last time around it was anyone’s game, very important game if we are to keep in touch with the top four.

Also there is a cheer out to Andrew Robinson who is lining up for his 100^th game for the Knights.

Ulverstone will also be looking to keep its winning trend and make it four from four. With Shaun Conkie coming off the pine last week and scoring the late winner, the Reds will be looking to score earlier and control the game. Ulverstone play a very attacking line up and probably use the Brazil phrase. “You score 4 we will score more”. Connor Meanie is in outstanding form and with Michael Wolfert controlling the back line will be hard to penetrate.

THIS GAME WILL BE WORTH THE $6 ENRTY…..

LADDER AFTER ROUND 9

1	Somerset	8	7	0	1	36	6	30	21
2	Devonport	8	7	0	1	29	9	20	21
3	Ulverstone	8	5	0	3	17	9	8	15
4	Prospect	8	4	1	3	21	14	7	13
5	Nth Rangers	8	4	0	4	14	14	0	12
6	Riverside	8	3	1	4	13	15	-2	10
7	L'ton City	8	2	2	4	12	24	-12	8
8	Burnie	8	2	0	6	9	26	-17	6
9	L'ton United	8	0	0	8	3	37	-34	0

Danny Allsopp To Play For Launceston City

I have just been told that former soccer roo and ex Melbourne Victory player Danny Allsopp will play for Launceston City V Leagues side on the 15th of July against Northern Rangers.

Im not sure how true it is as i cant get hold of any one from City.

I guess time will tell........

Saturdays results

NPL
Riverside 0 lost to Ulverstone 1

Somerset 5 beat Rangers 1

Launceston City 1 beat Burnie United 0

Devonport 6-7 beat Launceston United 0

V League

Devonport 4 beat Glenorchy 0

Launceston City 0 lost to Olympia 9

Half Way Point Is Already Here

The half way mark is about to approach us and boy has it come around quick. There are some quality game up for show this week and we could also see some movement in the ladder. I once heard that the ladder at the end of the first leg is just about where you finish at the end. I still cant work that out but we will see.

Somerset V Rangers 2:30pm Saturday Cardigan St

1^st place Somerset host the Rangers in another home game which seems like that is all they have played. After both teams having the week off and 2 consecutive weeks for the Ranger s both teams will be fresh and ready to fire. One would think this will be a fast flowing game with many opportunities from both sides.

Somerset welcome back Sam Cocks who missed the Devonport game after getting his weeks wrong and going on holidays. Somerset over the last few games have looked flat and struggled against sides that have had a very attacking centre mid. But with the week off Coach Considine has had time to work on this and his sides formation. He had this to say

” The Sharks take on the impressive Northern Rangers this week at Shark park and will be keen to get its season back on track after its first defeat against Devonport last round. Even though the Sharks are struggling with injuries at the moment, they will need to improve enormously from its last match if they are to regain their great early season form.

The Rangers are sitting in 5^th place at the moment and will be looking to climb the ladder sooner than later and will be looking to roll the Sharks away from home. A win for the rangers would see them leap frog Prospect who have the bye and pending on the Riverside Ulverstone result could see them in 3^rd if they took the points. Rangers spokes person Brendan Litchendonk had this to say

” We have just signed NSW keeper Michael Nicholson who will most likely come into the Victory League 20 for Brendan Lichtendonk, who will not play again this year through injury, Michael arrives on Thursday and will train with the NPL side Thursday night and come straight into the NPL side after playing 3 games for his former club last weekend. He has been in the youth squad with the Central Coast Mariners and is a great addition to the club.

The injuries and exams have caused our NPL coach all manor of headaches this week, both in terms of selection and training, Ash Fisher will be given the chance to play out 90 minutes after serving as the substitute for the Victory League many times this year, while Luke Tuma has suffered from the flu and will be given the opportunity to get his touch back in the Premier League.

We have some quick and skilful young players in our club, and will have to call on many of them with the U20 restrictions on our side having so many players out of the Victory League side, but we are more than confident they can serve it up to the Sharks, who are strong and skilful themselves. We expect a close and tough match with Somerset at Cardigan st.

Launceston City V Burnie United

In a game where both clubs need a win this should be a cracker and a high scoring but physical game. Burnie will be on a high after rolling Launceston United last game very easily and would have faith they can grab another 3 points in consecutive games. Mitchell Stitz is back for his second senior game this year and you can count on that when he plays Burnie will score. When asked about the game Peter VanEk had these comments” Burnie will be looking for another 3 points after the win against Launceston United last round. The line up will be unchanged against Launceston City.

We expect a hard fought game against City. Not sure what the ground conditions will be like but this time of the year its normally like playing in puddles so we will have to adapt quickly, City have played a wide game in the past, trying to stretch the oppositions defence and using the better part of the ground. The intention will be to take control of the game through possession and looking for the counter attack with Mitchel Stitz and Brodie Best playing well up front.

We welcomed back Trent Potts to the senior line up last game who controlled the game from a defensive centre mid roll, Trent will produce the same stability again this week providing support for the midfield.

Well Done Socceroo’s Tuesday, Time to do a job against Iraq!!

Riverside V Ulverstone Reds 2:30pm Olympic Park Riverside

This should be a belter of a game and the winner will either be comfortable in the 4 or be an inclusion to the 4, Ulverstone are on a role and look like they will be the team to beat in the second half of the year. With both Adam and Shaun Conkie on fire and Connor Meanie scoring as well Riverside will be a little worried but on

the other hand the ever reliable Sam Hughs is a worry with in him self and the Reds will have to stop his play if they want the 3 points.

Devonport V Launceston United 4:30 pm Valley Road

Devonport will be looking to close the goal margin on Somerset this week at home against an under strength United. Peter Gilham should further his golden boot lead and Devonport will control this game with ease. This game is played after the V League game at 4:30.

Ladder After Round 8

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Somerset	7	6	0	1	31	5	26	18
2	Devonport	7	6	0	1	22	9	13	18
3	Prospect	8	4	1	3	21	14	7	13
4	Ulverstone	7	4	0	3	16	9	7	12
5	Nth Rangers	7	4	0	3	13	9	4	12
6	Riverside	7	3	1	3	13	14	-1	10
7	Burnie	7	2	0	5	9	25	-16	6
8	L'ton City	7	1	2	4	11	24	-13	5
9	L'ton United	7	0	0	7	3	30	-27	0

NPL TEAM OF THE FIRST ROUND

As we approach the end of Round 1and with a week off now is your time to pick the team of the first round. Every club has just about seen every one play.

You couldn't go past Peter Ghilam from Devonport or Yitay Townes from Rangers with Kaiomon Johnson and Chris Smith from Somerset along with Sahun Conkie from Ulverstone.

Lets see who has got the team right.

              Shaun and Kaimon would near be in every ones team