In the past two weeks, Olympic have come from 4-0 down with only 10 men to within the width of the woodwork of securing a draw against Northern Rangers and then fought back from 2-0 down to snatch a point off leaders Burnie.

But Penfold said the side needed to stop giving itself mountains to climb.

‘‘Whilst these comebacks have shown that we have some heart, we need to show the same tenacity and drive in the first halves of the games,’’ he said.

‘‘We can compete with all of the teams in the league and the players have to realise that and start putting in full 90-minute performances.’’

Olympic beat a wasteful Devonport 3-1 in the first round, but Penfold is expecting ‘‘a fired-up’’ Strikers side.

‘‘Nathan Gratton was a dominant performer last time around and it looks like Bobby Eaves has been lining up for their NCL side so we will need to keep both of them quiet.’’

Olympic’s Zac Vedovelli pulled up sore and will miss a few weeks while last week’s fill-in Matt Burnett will get another opportunity.

Northern Rangers take their turn to host Burnie and coach Brendan Lichtendonk is confident after a solid draw at Somerset last week.

‘‘While it was a nil-all draw, it was a great game to watch unfold,’’ he said.

‘‘All games seem to be hard for this year with every opposition very close to each other. I expect Burnie will be no different, they are top of the ladder.

‘‘I was hoping for a few additions to our forward line this week but the ongoing issues regarding injuries in our club will hamper those plans.

‘‘I have some selection dramas with our defenders all available right across the club this weekend but few of our strikers. Sam Nugteren was great last week but will probably move back to the reserves simply because everyone is back in our defensive lines.’’

Rock bottom Launceston City stage a third North v North-West clash against Somerset and Launceston United travel to Ulverstone.

This weekend

Saturday 2.30pm

Northern Rangers v Burnie

Ulverstone v Launceston United

Riverside v Devonport

4.30pm

Launceston City v Somerset