The state league title deservedly stayed in Devonport but for the second time in a week plenty of credibility returned back along the Bass Highway to Riverside.
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Rick Coghlan's Strikers are without doubt the best team in the (is)land and confirmed the NPL Tasmania title will remain at Valley Road for another season with a ruthless 6-2 victory.
After another hat-trick to the prolific Miles Barnard, the highest compliment one could pay this team is to ask who Brayden Mann was.
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But, as they had on Saturday, Olympic twice breached the home defence and showed coach Alex Gaetani that they were far from overawed by their high-flying hosts.
"We did our best but did not have a lot go our way in the first half, made mistakes and they punished us," Gaetani said.
"In the second half we competed better and made it hard for them - that was a positive.
"But they took their goals really well and made us pay. That's why they're champions."
The same Devonport 11 that won Saturday's clash 4-2 had dispatched another four goals inside the first half hour.
Joel Stone fired them ahead after just five minutes with a goal fit to win any title and after Barnard set up Max Fitzgerald for a tidy second the free-scoring forward bagged a couple for himself, both laid on a plate by the brilliant Eddie Bidwell.
Riverside's Spanish-speaking duo Nil Sanz and Luca Vigilante had a bit too much to say for the referee's liking and were both in his book before halving the deficit either side of the break.
Sanz claimed his second Valley Road goal of the week in almost identical fashion before Vigilante tapped in from close range after Chris Wademan had struck the crossbar.
On the day he was called up to the state team, Olympic's keeper Jarrod Hill was kept busy by Barnard and Stone before Fitzgerald claimed his second from close range,
And, as they had four days earlier, Devonport sealed the deal with a contentious penalty, this one blasted in by Barnard to ensure he would be heading home with a match ball as well as his league winner's medal.
It will come as scant consolation to Olympic to hear that even seasoned Valley Road supporters felt the first 30 minutes was the best they could remember Devonport producing.
State squad
Three Launceston-based players have been named in a state squad to play two trial matches against Central Coast Mariners in preparation for the A-League season.
The first match will be on Sunday, September 8, at South Hobart's Darcy Street.
Riverside's Jarrod Hill will share goalkeeping duties with Devonport's Nathan Pitchford while Launceston City's defender/midfielder Charlie Dyer and striker Noah Mies have also been called up along with Devonport's former Northern Rangers midfielder Todd Hingston.
NPL coaches Ken Morton, David Smith and Rick Coghlan helped select the side.
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Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
