South to wing it without Brennan
SOUTH Hobart will look to stay atop the NPL Tasmania table after a round three clash against Glenorchy Knights today but will have to do so without star winger Andy Brennan.
The former Newcastle Jet made five A-League appearances and has now returned to South Hobart for the first time since 2014. Brennan will miss this week’s fixture however, after having an appeal against a red card received in his return game last week denied.
“Andy won’t play this week, he is suspended for one game, and that’s it so we move on,” said South Hobart coach Ken Morton. Despite the suspension, Morton said Brennan had been a great influence as his impact extended beyond his ability on the field.
“[He is] going to have a tremendous impact on our attacking players and we have some super young players so they’re going to learn from training with Andy as well as playing with him,” Morton said. “They’re looking to learn, wanting to improve and while they have this attitude, they’ll do that. This is an important year for us because we’re not going for premierships, we’re going for development and the young lads are doing a terrific job.”
Knights coach James Sherman said he was looking forward to an entertaining match but his side are preparing for a tough fixture. The Knights will be looking to back up an impressive 3-1 victory over the Olympia Warriors last week but Sherman said the performances are more important.
“South Hobart at home are always a strong side so we’re expecting a pretty tough match,” he said.
“If the performances are good then we don’t get too down about ourselves regardless of the result while at the same time if the performances are good and we get a decent result we just focus on what we need to do to keep getting those good performances.”
This may prove to be a crucial round of NPL football as the Olympia Warriors meet the Devonport Strikers. The Kingborough Lions try to stay in touch with the top of the league in a meeting with the Clarence Zebras and the Launceston derby has Riverside and Launceston City battling for the inaugural Guardian Pharmacies Challenge Cup.