Statewide neighbours share spoils from their back-to-back derbies

Riverside Olympic claimed their first NPL Tasmania points of the season from a 4-1 win on Friday night but Launceston United squared the ledger on the same pitch the next day with Dani Gunton's injury-time free-kick securing a 3-2 Women's Super League win.

On the evidence of Saturday's match, United women's coach Nick Rawlinson believes Olympic will not struggle having stepped up to the WSL.

So far, Olympic's only point of their campaign has come from a 2-2 draw with fellow newcomers Glenorchy - sandwiched between 6-0 thumpings by Kingborough and Devonport - but Rawlinson admitted his team got out of jail having trailed for much of the second half.

"Riverside are well organised and determined and put in a good performance," he said.

"If they keep doing what they did against us they will go OK in this league. They will also need to stay injury-free - that's always crucial."

Olympic's WSL coach Chris Rademacher has revealed the mantra his team is running with for its maiden statewide campaign.

"We've put a new sign up in the changeroom which says: 'Mistakes are mandatory'," he said.

Asked what it means, he added: "That means try something different, back yourself and if it doesn't work, do it again. Don't be fearful of doing something wrong."

Rademacher said he was proud of how his young group is embracing the challenge since stepping up from the Northern Championship.

"We've learned that it's all about the group, the players coming together as a team and the culture within that and that's driving the team really well," he said. "They can all play football and they're starting to learn to back themselves and take themselves out of their comfort zone."

One of the saddest stories of the NPL Tasmania season produced a happier chapter on Friday night.

Riverside winger Will Fleming's broken leg sustained against his former team Launceston City led to the fixture being abandoned and subsequently replayed.

As his leg heals, Fleming has remained a regular at Windsor Park where, instead of playing, he has been indulging an interest in photography.

And in addition to Olympic's Facebook page, he was happy to help out The Examiner with some excellent images of Friday night's action.

Coaches rarely like to single out individuals after a significant win.

Reverting to congratulating the team as a whole is the traditional alternative, but, in the immediate euphoria straight after his team's first win of the season, Olympic coach Helder Dos Santos Silva opted instead to just name as many as he could.

Asked who in particular he would like to praise, he replied "Abdula (Abdelkhalig Abdelrasoul) - defensive-wise was outstanding. But it wasn't just him. The back four all worked hard. (Will) Prince is becoming a player. He works really hard. I cannot praise this lad enough. But not just Will. It's from Manny (Emanuel Ponce) who comes with a different attitude every week, Liam (Poulson), Gedi (Krusa), Henry Cook ... mate, we have such a strong family."

Officials cop plenty of stick so it's only fair to recognise particularly good work.

Twice on Friday night, Riverside players erupted in unison demanding free-kicks and on both occasions referee Tom Mace allowed advantages which led to the team's third and fourth goals.

When Olympic striker Ponce appeared to be pulled down by United defender Tom McTigue six minutes into the second half, nearly everyone stopped assuming a free-kick was forthcoming. Everyone, that is, except Mace and winger Austin Marshall who ran through unopposed to beat keeper Noah Curtis.

Twenty minutes later, James Trevis was left in a heap after challenging for a header with Christian Byard. Mace allowed the ball to reach Ponce and only blew his whistle seconds later for a penalty when Krusa was upended in the box by Luke Warrener.

Still hunting for their first win five games into their second NPL Tasmania season, United followers are doing an admirable job keeping their sense of humour.

With Riverside also pointless going into the game, displaying a 4-1 scoreline in favour of the home team is something of an unusual occurrence for the dazzling new Windsor Park scoreboard.

One United wag noticed that the scoreline was emblazoned next to the club's major sponsors - Launceston consulting engineers Rare - and couldn't resist the observation: "A 4-1 lead to Riverside ... Rare indeed."