Adam Jago

The Devonport Strikers have continued their strong start to the season with a commanding 5-0 victory over the Kingborough Lions. The Strikers dominated the game from start to finish, they never let Kingborough have a good shot at goal and they created many chances to score for themselves.

Devonport came racing out of the blocks, scoring in just the fourth minute of play from the penalty spot when Daniel Gofton brought down Adam Gorrie inside the area. Brayden Mann coolly slotted the penalty into the bottom left hand corner, providing Devonport the start they were after.

They then doubled their advantage when Joel Stone ran onto a long ball, cut inside from the left wing and rocketed a shot past Grace into the back of the net.

They continued to dominate the first half, but despite creating a number of scoring chances the score remained at 2-0, thanks largely to Mark Grace’s work between the sticks.

Kingborough had one chance through Jack Gates and started to get a foothold in the game, but Devonport were stil firmly on top as the whistle blew for half time.

Devonport continued to pepper the goal face in the second half, with Mann and Stone firing off a number of shots. The score could have easily ended at 6 or 7-nil if it wasn’t for the outstanding performance of Mark Grace in goals for the Lions. Grace made many fantastic saves throughout the game and was once again the Lion’s best player. However, there was no chance of him being able to stop some of the shots by Devonport, particularly Beau Blizzard’s 71st minute goal and Mann’s goal in the 73rd minute, both of which found their way right into the top corner. The two goals in quick succession put the result beyond doubt at 4-0 and was a just reward for their dominance.

It got better still, when in the 83rd minute, substitute Harrison Wicks forced a turnover at the back, strode in on goal and calmly slotted it past the keeper to make it 5-0. It was the 16-year old’s first NPL game and having only been on the field for 6 minutes before scoring, the Valley Road crowd gave him a resounding reception.

Overall, today’s win was a great team effort by the Strikers, and their confidence should be high after this result as they maintain their title bid.

For the Lion’s however, their slow start to the year continues, they’ve gained just a single point in six games. The main positives for the Lion’s today was the performance of their keeper, Mark Grace, and they had a few nice runs down the wing from Jack Gates. Overall their play today was average as they lacked the ability to create good chances in their third of the park.