TSL: North Launceston, Launceston play out deja vu derby

Wednesday night's sequel ran to an eerily similar script as round two as the home side found ways to grind out a small but convincing lead following an entertaining six-goal first term.

The only difference this time was that North Launceston, not Launceston, finished the night holding the four points and top spot of the ladder.

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Northern Bombers coach Taylor Whitford was happy with what he saw.

"I thought the first half was a really high standard of football," Whitford said.

"It was a little bit slippery in the last quarter and late in the third, which probably put a little bit of a dampener on the game because it was very fumbly and a stoppage-based game after that.

"But I thought we took our chances well when we had a bit of momentum in the second."

The Bombers looked the most dangerous side for the middle two terms and capitalised on the scoreboard despite Bart McCulloch's absence after half time.

NTFA recruit Jake Laskey stood up ably in his place, snaring two goals and a series of contested marks, while Jackson Callow set up many a counter-attack with intercept marks in defence.

Corey Nankervis played another stellar defensive role on Dylan Riley (one goal) and utility Jay Foon continued his nomadic start to 2020 by dominating as the loose man in defence.

"We thought we utilised out spare defender really well, Foony played a really good role," Whitford said.

"I thought our inside mids cracked in pretty well - it was pretty hot in the kitchen there for a while, so I thought Brad [Cox-Goodyer], Josh [Ponting], Dan Withers, Baynen Lowe and Sherrin Egger, I thought they did a really good job against Launceston who we rate as a pretty quality midfield."

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The outcome was "bittersweet" for Launceston coach Mitch Thorp, who was pleased with the style of game despite the result.

The 2018 Hudson Medallist said the continued hot form of skipper Jobi Harper (26 touches and a goal) and cameos from Miller Hodge and Isaac Chugg were all positives in defeat.

"It was a little bit frustrating because we were right in the contest for a long part of the night," Thorp said.

"We had a lot of control of the game for a long period, so we're frustrated we lost but we're not disheartened - we know that our best is pretty good.

"We just need to tidy up a few areas of our game that have been a bit of a trend all year - some of our entries inside 50 got rebounded a little bit easy, but as a whole we were right in the contest.

"[The players] are pretty positive, we had a bad result against Clarence and to respond away from home, we were pretty good for most of the night I thought."

Round 2

Round 8