Launceston City win again in NPL Tasmania

After wins over Olympia and Riverside, Lino Sciulli's side produced a tidy 2-0 win over Clarence, but the coach wasn't exactly ecstatic.

"Of course we're happy and we played some good football but when we did not have the ball it was ugly, but then sometimes you've got to win ugly," he said.

"Apart from winning, there's a lot not to like about that. We have standards and want to meet them.

"It's my job to be grumpy and I guess winning beats the other option."

Asked to specify what his side did wrong, Sciulli added: "We did not seem to back ourselves and when we lost the ball we seemed happy to let someone else try and win it back. We did some silly things in defence and our discipline was not quite there tonight."

City's young guns did the damage in the first half, Stef Tantari and Will Fleming both getting on the scoresheet.

Tantari pounced with a tidy finish to give City an early lead and the second came in the shadows of half-time, Fleming producing a superb far-post header to finish a sweeping counter-attack involving Tantari and Gedi Krusa.

Keeper Lachie Clark had to be at his best to preserve the lead soon after the restart but then City looked like they would run away with it.

Yasin Mohammadi and Will Compagne both fired wide when well placed but the most likely third came from the boot of Dan Smith who lobbed the keeper but saw his effort bounce up onto the crossbar.

The result meant James Hawes was able to celebrate his 18^th birthday in style.

Another RIVERSIDE defeat was put into perspective by a tragic week for the club.

Coach Alex Gaetani and two of the young players he has mentored at Windsor Park all lost grandparents this week and a minute's silence preceeded the 4-0 loss to South Hobart.

Ken Morton's men were more experienced and ultimately more ruthless as Olympic took their goals conceded tally to 24 in five weeks.

"Definitely a better performance than last week," Gaetani said. "But the frustration is it's still a 4-0 loss.

"We had our chances and if we had taken them the game would have been very different. But it's a game of goals. They took theirs and we did not.

"I thought everyone played their roles and they took on board the feedback from last week."

As three Olympic players took it in turn to collect yellow cards for fouling dynamic youngster Kasper Hallam, South Hobart won the game with two goals in each half.

Nick Morton pounced on a rare Will Humphrey error to rifle in the opener and within minutes of Fletcher Fulton firing Olympic's best chance against the bar, Luke Bighin headed in the second.

Will Ferrall denied Sam Berezansky and Toby Simeoni denied Hugh Undy what looked an open goal before Morton blasted in his second, Josh Divin scrambled the fourth and only the crossbar denied Morton a hat-trick with the last kick of the game.

Devonport Strikers won the summit meeting with Glenorchy 4-0 while Kingborough won 2-1 at Olympia.

The much-anticipated meeting between the top two in the Women's Northern Championship proved surprisingly one-sided as NORTHERN RANGERS' perfect start to the season was ended with a 5-0 loss at Ulverstone.

Dropping their first points in their 12th match of the campaign, Stephen Pearce's Rangers now find themselves one win ahead of the traditional North-West powerhouse, having played an extra game.

RIVERSIDE saw off LAUNCESTON UNITED 2-1 through Chelsea Wing and an own goal.

"In the first half we played our best football of the season but United defended well and were very organised," said coach Jo Haezebrouck.

"The second half was a stalemate in midfield. We deserved the win but had to work hard for it."

LAUNCESTON CITY coach Barry Baker was delighted with his side's 2-0 win over Burnie.

Goals from Zali Kirkman and Rebecca Barrett delivered the points.

"They played really well," Baker said. "They're starting to knock the ball around well. We're still rebuilding but things are starting to come together."

Devonport went down 2-3 at home to Somerset.

Goals either side of half-time from young striker Ollie Jacobs set LAUNCESTON UNITED up for a 3-1 win at RIVERSIDE in the men's competition.

The more customary source of Aidan Rigby claimed the other as another teenager, Adam Walker, hit Riverside's consolation from the penalty spot.

United coach Fernando Munoz declared himself "happy for the boys".

"We continue with the plan to use our young players and for them it is good," he added. "Now we are in good moment."

Olympic counterpart Joe Evans delivered the frank assessment: "They deserved to win."

LAUNCESTON CITY coach Justin Dyer heaped praise on his solid backline after a 2-1 win over Burnie.

Riley Fellows, who scored along with Brendan Mccaffrey, was a towering presence in defence alongside Matt Owens, Shane Egan and Juan Carlos.

"They played really well and set us up for some good link-up play," Dyer said.

Two goals in the first 10 minutes were enough to see Ulverstone win 2-1 against NORTHERN RANGERS who scored through Dan Wagner and missed a penalty.

Devonport Strikers beat Somerset 5-3.