Clarence rejigs after horror season start

CLARENCE United coach Warren Burt has flagged “significant changes” to his side for tomorrow night’s match against the Glenorchy Knights after a very tough start to the NPL Tasmania season.

Clarence have been hammered in both of their opening NPL Tasmania games, 9-0 by the Hobart Zebras and 8-0 by the Kingborough Lions.

They will take on the newlypromoted Knights, who won their first match against Riverside Olympic but have since lost to the Olympia Warriors and the Devonport Strikers. The game is at KGV from 8pm.

Burt said the start to the season had been tougher than he had expected, and he was particularly disappointed in the loss to Kingborough.

“The first half against Zebras, I could definitely see that the players were trying to implement what we had been working on in training,” Burt said.

“I actually thought we played better against the Zebras, and we just couldn’t perform at all [against the Lions], so you’ll see some significant changes against the Knights.”

Burt said he would have a full squad to pick from tonight, with Jeremy Price and Paul Palmer set to return, while Clarence will be further bolstered by the return of Odaine Demar next month.

He said his team needed to rectify issues with its midfield and fitness levels, but he is confident Clarence can be competitive tonight.

“[We need to get] the right personnel on the park — those with a greater focus on defending, which we didn’t see from a few players in the last game, against Kingborough,” Burt said.

Glenorchy coach James Sherman said it had been an overall positive first three games back in the NPL Tasmania for his side.

While Clarence have struggled in the early rounds, Sherman said the Knights won’t be taking a different approach into the game — they’ll continue to take the game to their opposition.

“Sometimes it’s not going to work for us, but we think that, for the players that have, that most of time it’s going to be the way to go,” Sherman said.

We’ll go into Clarence with an idea on [how] we think we can get at them, and what we need to be stronger at defensively, and just go into the match full of confidence.”

Sherman hopes to welcome back Thomas Young and Tyler Harrison, who missed Saturday’s game.

Launceston City host Riverside Olympic at Buckby Land Rover Park in tomorrow’s other fixture. Both sides will be desperate to earn their first points of the NPL Tasmania season after losing their opening two games.