Wet Weather Has Set In For Round 12

This weekend will see more mud than goals. With wet weather right across the state, it will play havoc on the top teams and will not allow teams to play their styles. This is where any team can win on the day and there may be a few surprises this week.

Burnie United V Somerset Sharks 2:30pm Montello
This is defiantly game of the round with it not only just the derby but for the first time in a long time both teams are sitting in the 4 and looking to play finals while Somerset are still keeping an eye on their second consecutive title.
United ground can be seen from far away when coming from a certain direction and there is more brown than green on the ground atm and may play a huge factor in this game. Add 2 games before it, It could be who can build the biggest mud pie instead of how many goals can we score.
United are in fine form and Connor Parke is showing that he has his Dads and Granddads talents and nearly scoring in every game.
Trent Potts and Andy Gibbson have been dominating the middle this year and will be a stern test for them tomorrow coming up against what may be the best midfield in the competition.
Somerset have been setting the net alight over the past 4 weeks scoring a massive 36 goals for and only leaking 3.
The move by Jeremy DeBomford to play Captain Chris Smith on the field is paying him back in 10 folds. Smith has also scored in every game he has played on the field.
President Nigel Brown said this"same story as last week but expecting a much harder match and is forecast cold and windy, so Montello it will not be condusive to very pleasant playing conditions.
We expect this to be a real ding dong affair as there is little love in the local Derby.
I watched Burnie 2 weeks ago and was very impressed with the work rates of Trent Potts and Andy Gibson in midfield. Their battle against Kaimon Johnson and Chris Smith will be worth the entry cost alone. I am expecting fireworks.

Ulverstone V Riverside 2:30 pm Ulverstone Show Grounds

Ulverstone are coming off the bye last week and will be fresh and ready to take on the unbeaten Riverside at home. Riverside only beat Ulverstone in the first round 3-1, So the Red swill be full of confidence knowing they are at home.

Connor Meanie and his brother are the go to men for the Reds and Josh Smith in the sticks is always strong.But will they be able to with stand the on slaut of Olympic.

Riverside are the team to beat and will be very hard in doing so. Not one player is weak and even their bench bolsters some great young talent.

Chris Wademan and Todd Mitchell scored against the Reds last time and will be looking to do the same again.

Wayne Penfold said this"This week we travel to the coast and take on a dangerous Ulverstone side. They pushed us all the way last round. We played with 10 men for the majority of the 2^nd half but still managed to take the points. Home ground advantage is a big factor on Saturday as I have heard that the Ulverstone pitch is a little smaller than others.

 

Ulverstone have some good attacking players and have a solid defensive unit. They are coached very well and are a disciplined side who have had some good results.

 

If we can pressure Ulverstone into making errors and then capitalise on them, then we should be able to get on top of them. Creating chances hasn’t been an issue for us of late, it’s just a matter of finishing off our good build up play and putting the ball into the back of the net. Last week we managed to do that and I'm expecting us to keep up to the standard against the Reds.

 

Taylor Neilson played last week after a fitness test, but pulled up sore midway through the 2^nd half. He is still troubled by his injury but we will be smart and leave him out this week as we have the bye next week. So that should give him sufficient time to come right. His place will be taken by Mitchell Neilson who deserves his chance to come into the side.

Devonport V Launceston City 5pm Valley Road

Northern Rangers V Launceston United 230.pm SUNDAY

Rangers host United in the last game of the round and the Rangers will be looking to get back on the winners list.Rangers have been hit hard by injures this year and that has effected their results.

Rangers should get the win at home. 

Coach Donk said this"This week we have come off a tough result away to Somerset, but given the players available at present in the club due to a woeful run of injuries, I am prod of the way the lads battled under trying conditions.  We started two players from the under 18s who had played a full 90 minutes and made the best of a bad situation.  Take nothing away from Somerset though, they deserved their win.

Unfortunately we lost another two of our young players to injury in that game, Chris Collins is out for the season and Alex Fulton we are not sure on, so to date we have lost at some point nearly everyone of our under 20 players to injury when playing against a side that has none of the restrictions, the educated pundit can draw their own conclusions around whether or not FFT as stewards of the game are doing the right thing by matching boys against men, but I have been a long standing critic of this rule on Victory league clubs, and for this week we have just 7 players to pick a side from.

Our Victory League side have four players injured out of their list too, so we just cant take a trick at the moment.

The number of available players may improve after the Victory League game if Tim Lunnon does not use all of his substitutes, but its a battle under these rules, while perfectly able bodied players sit in our league 1 and league 2 sides but can not take the pitch for the Northern Premier League because they are over 20 and not in the Victory League list of players.

We will be forced to use even younger players this week against Launceston as we need to draw from our Under 18s to fill the positions on the park.  

Josh Burk is an outside chance to come back into the group but he will be given until kick off to decide, and the same goes for Adam McItyre while Dylan Headland is now almost certainly out for the year to injury after playing just 4 games.

Launceston have had some good results, so its going to take a super effort from our remaining fit players to get over them at home.  I expect a tough battle, but have great belief in all of our players, and I believe we can get the job done, all I can hope for is an injury free weekend.