- Riverside Olympic are the form team and have the home advantage.
- Clarence Zebras are in the middle of a sticky patch.
Riverside are 2.38 favourites to beat Clarence Zebras
It is only one place and two points that separate these two sides in the NPL Tasmania 2026 table, but there is a slight feel that Riverside Olympic have a little bit more about them. The hosts have accumulated 23 points from 14 games to sit fifth in the table, while Clarence sit 6th on 21 points from 15 matches.
Riverside have won just one and lost one of their last two home matches, so they are not completely secure in front of their own fans. Nevertheless, they have fared well with four wins, one draw and two losses from seven attempts and that should be enough to see them edge this one.
Clarence have gone unbeaten in their last two away matches, but they have drawn both of those matches, so they can certainly dig in and make this a long night for Riverside. The visitors are in poor form however with three draws and two defeats from their last five matches, and they enter off the back of a 2-2 draw away at Glenorchy Knights and a 1-2 home loss to Launceston City.
Expect an open, end-to-end contest
Riverside play a 4-3-3 system that focuses on width, pace and sharp transitions, so they should have plenty of chances to hurt the visitors. Clarence set up to be a little more patient and have a few more players around the striker, so this should be a transition versus possession affair with the hosts trying to play fast and the away side trying to slow the pace.
Clarence have let in nine goals in their seven away games in the NPL Tasmania 2026, so Riverside should feel confident that they can cause problems if they start fast. Over 2.5 goals is heavily backed at 1.31 and both teams to score is the same price, so the odds are pointing to an open, attacking game.
Riverside have won two of their last three NPL Tasmania 2026 matches against Clarence, who failed to win either of the last two meetings in this fixture. That 4-0 defeat in the last matchup reminds Riverside that the away team can put them to the sword if they are not careful, so that should also play into an exciting game.
Riverside to edge a close encounter
Clarence have shown they can travel well enough to keep this encounter on the edge with three wins, two draws and just two defeats from their seven matches away from home. They will need to keep up with Riverside however and that may be tough to do.
Riverside's 6-0 thrashing of Ulverstone and away win at Launceston United show they can go toe-to-toe with the best and their ceiling is a fair bit higher than this fixture suggests. We are leaning towards a Riverside win, but the odds and recent form tell us this will be a close contest. With that in mind, we will take a small bet on a 2-1 Riverside Olympic win.
