Olympia Warriors have confirmed that coach Andrew Brown has been relieved of his NPL duties.
Brown was picked up by the Warriors after leading his then Hobart United side to Southern Championship title success last year.
Brown’s departure was confirmed by Olympia’s president George Mamacas in a statement released earlier this morning.
“Yesterday we parted ways with Andrew Brown,” Mamacas said.
“The club wishes him well in the future.
“Robert Clarke will be taking over the NPL squad for the rest of the 2020 season.“
Clarke coached the Warriors’ to a 2nd place finish in last season’s NPL TAS campaign, which was eventually won once again by Devonport Strikers.
It’s been a real season of ups and downs for the Warriors. What started with promise after defeating South Hobart for the Summer Cup has turned to a campaign of woes.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, import players Kazuma Kobayashi (Japan) and goalkeeper Davis Smith (USA) both returned home to their respective countries.
Olympia’s season opener was a 1-0 defeat courtesy of the newly formed Clarence Zebras at Wentworth Park. Callum Brown (Andrew’s Son) was sent off in the first half.
Results after that match were not much better.
R2: Knights 3 – Warriors 1
R3: Strikers 3 – Warriors 2
Olympia seemed to have turned the corner after knocking off Northern visitors Riverside Olympic in R4 (5-1) and Launceston City in R5 (2-1) at Warrior Park.
Last weekend’s game with Kingborough seemed to really sum up Olympia’s slump in form this year.
With a 2-0 half-time lead over the title contenders, they let in 3 quick goals in succession in less than ten minutes to a vibrant Lions outfit to open the second half.
Olympia salvaged a 3-3 draw courtesy of Adam Gorrie’s late free kick. Surely there was a feeling in their dressing rooms that this was two points lost?
Let’s switch focus to this weekend.
South Hobart will be Olympia’s next test Saturday night. Previous encounters have proved that there have been usually some fireworks. I believe this weekend will be no exception.
Darby Randall has been Olympia’s number one choice as goalkeeper. I would like to see goalkeeper Elliot Hoysted given a chance against South Hobart.
Hoysted played part in University’s second place finish in the Southern Championship last season and also made his NPL debut back in round two. Hoysted was on the end of defeat but was still able to some good saves and showed potential. It will be interesting to see who Olympia opt with.
In some transfer news, Olympia’s striker Jack Ryan will play his final game for the club Saturday night. Ryan will be returning to the UK for family reasons.
