A pulsating match was eventually decided three minutes from time when substitute Aaron Kidmas kept his calm to slot the clincher and spark scenes of wild celebration among the visitors.

Olympic teammates jumped on the delighted 17-year-old as keeper Jarrod Hill emulated Socceroo Maty Ryan by running the length of the pitch to join the party.

Players from as far afield as Nigeria, Lithuania, Mexico, England, Belgium, Spain and Argentina belied Tasmania's strict border restrictions to produce a thrilling contest.

And a match between Launceston's two NPL Tasmania representatives was ultimately decided by goals courtesy of the competition's last Northern participant.

Northern Rangers may have opted out of the statewide competition last year but played a key role in the development of Kidmas and Matt Spanos, who had opened his statewide account in the first half.

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Both coaches felt their teams had produced enough chances to win comfortably in what developed into a showcase of the goalkeeping brilliance of Hill and Daniel Nash.

"On the balance of chances, 2-1 was too close because I thought we had multiple chances to put it to bed," said Riverside's Alex Gaetani.

"In the past we would have settled for 1-1 but this team has the mentality to keep going and score again at the end.

"So I'm happy but it was deserved and could, and should, have been more."

City coach Roger Hardwicke expressed similar sentiments about his team.

"I thought we dominated the second half but goals win games and we did not put it in the back of the net," he said.

"We've got to be more clinical and our end pass is probably not as good as it could be and we're too slow moving the ball.

"Well done to them. They took their chances and played a good match but for us that's three dropped points and zero from three is not good enough."

Nick Thorne came in for the suspended Rob Gerrard for an otherwise unchanged City while Olympic again invited Fletcher Fulton to get forward. And only the reflexes of Nash prevented the Launceston United product adding to last week's goal.

Olympic dominated the early exchanges and took the lead on 25 minutes when Spanos turned in a Tom Prince throughball.

Sam Ridgard, Noah Mies, Yasin Mohammadi, Gedi Krusa, Jarrod Linger and Thorne all tested Hill although Ridgard missed City's best chance when he headed wide.

The Englishman made amends with his third goal in as many games, stealing in at the back post to convert Charlie Dyer's 75th-minute free-kick.

But Kidmas - who came on for the injured Luca Vigilante early in the second half - had the final say after Nash had denied sub Jhostan Padron.

Devonport maintained their 100 per cent start and also inflicted a third-straight loss on much-fancied Olympia with a 3-2 win at Valley Road.

Declan Brown wiped out Miles Barnard's opener in first-half stoppage time and although Callum Brown also found the net for the visitors, a second-half double from Brody Denehey saw the Strikers home.

Kingborough moved to second with a 2-1 win at Clarence. Adam Mckeown and Danny Cowen were on target as Jayden Hey hit back from the penalty spot.

Glenorchy inflicted South Hobart's first loss with a 3-1 win at Darcy Street.

Alex Bellini, Connor Schmidt and Alex Walter found the target with Kasper Hallam getting one back for the hosts.