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