South Hobart v Clarence United Match Report
Premier League, South Hobart, Saturday, 19 May 2007
South Hobart 0
Clarence United 0
Att: 200 Ref: M Sprod
South Hobart (1-3-4-2): M Moncur - N Robinson - H Ludford, M Hill, J Foley-Donoghue - C Wain, B Beecroft, T Roach, J Lo - D Brown, D Cooper (A Gordon 73) [Substitutes not used: D Abbott, M Grueber] [Coach: S Adkins]
Clarence United (4-5-1): M Moschogianis - J McMahon, T Ling, S Cannamela, A Mahoney (S Hadley 45) - K Emmanueli, P Bremner, J Stevens (M Chapman 73), B Parker, C Hunt - D Walsh [Substitutes not used: S Sweetten, J Huigsloot] [Coach: A Brown]
After Friday night’s exciting match between Tilford Zebras and Kingborough Lions United, this game was a drab affair and a 0-0 score-line was no surprise.
The teams appeared to be in awe of each other and many players had stage fright. Their first-touch was missing and the type of flowing football both sides are capable of rarely emerged.
There were many scrappy passages of play, with the ball bogged down as groups of players slogged it out in the middle of the park and tried to win possession.
Both goalkeepers produced excellent saves, sometimes in one-on-one situations, but the finishing by both teams was also poor. South Hobart, in particular, suffered from poor finishing and they had the sort of chances that should have seen them win comfortably.
Nathan Robinson had the first chance of the match when he headed Daniel Brown’s long throw-in from the left over the bar.
In the 11th minute, Michael Moschogianis saved Clarence. Jonathon Lo broke free on the left and the Clarence keeper parried Lo’s shot across goal, where Tom Roach, stationed at the far post, hammered a close-range shot at goal, only to be denied by Moschogianis.
Tom Roach - the power behind South Hobart in midfield
Two minutes later, Dwayne Walsh was presented with a marvellous chance when a through-ball gave him only Mark Moncur to beat. The South Hobart keeper came off his line and saved brilliantly at the youngster’s feet.
In the 34th minute, an error by Jon Foley-Donoghue gave possession to Kenyi Emmanueli and the Clarence midfielder advanced on goal, but Moncur produced a good save and conceded a corner.
South launched a fine attack down the right two minutes later as Colin Wain played a long ball to Roach, who beat his man and cut inside to feed Brown, but the striker’s shot was deflected for a corner.
Two minutes before the break, Walsh again broke clear, but his attempted chip over the keeper was easily collected by Moncur.
The half ended with Moschogianis almost fumbling Robinson’s free-kick, but the Clarence keeper managed to hold the ball in the end and clear.
Bart Beecroft - South’s midfield battler
Clarence veteran Scott Hadley came on for Adam Mahoney for the second half and within four minutes he was forced to concede a corner with a deliberate header while his side was under pressure.
Roach got to the corner and headed the ball down. It bounced up and off Robinson’s head, but Moschogianis grabbed the ball just before it could dip under the crossbar and into the net.
In the 55th minute, Matthew Hill had to produce a diving header to turn the ball out for a Clarence corner.
Clarence survived a scare in the 61st minute when Moschogianis was late in arriving for a through-ball on the corner of the box. David Cooper gained possession, but his shot from a difficult angle was deflected out for a corner by Ben Parker.
In the 63rd minute, Hugh Ludford broke through the Clarence defence, but with only the keeper to beat, he shot tamely at Moschogianis.
Brown glanced a header wide from Ludford’s corner in the 75th minute as time started to run out for the home side.
With nine minutes remaining, Moschogianis dived and parried a firm shot from the left by substitute Alexander Gordon. The keeper recovered his feet instantly and denied Brown from close range.
Two minutes from the end, Brown broke clear on the left and was presented with the option of shooting or passing to the right to the unmarked Gordon. Brown chose to shoot, but the ball flew wide of the far post and another chance went begging.
Daniel Brown - the most chances for South
In the 92nd minute, Brown delivered another long throw-in from the right which Moschogianis did well to tip on to the crossbar. The ball rebounded into play and was headed out for a corner by a desperate defender.
Hill was then presented with a chance from long range, but the diving Moschogianis turned it wide.
Mr Sprod blew the final whistle before South could take what would have been their 14th corner.
“Absolutely brilliant second half that we played, I thought,” said South Hobart coach, Steve Adkins.
“Once again, though, your one-on-one chances, you’ve got to score, and we had three or four of them in the second half, plus a lot of half-chances.
“I thought Matty Hill played a great game on Walshy. He only gave away a couple of free-kicks and ran off him as well and that was excellent.
Jonathon Lo - caused problems with his pace down the flanks
“I think we certainly deserved to win the game, especially the way we played in the second half. The first half was fairly even, but in the second half we certainly came home well.
“That puts us six points behind Zebras with a couple of games to go in this round.
“We have to concentrate now and get six points and see what happens with the Zebras, Knights et cetera.”
Clarence United coach, Andrew Brown, said: “Clarence are forever blowing bubbles.
“I think the South Hobart coach, Spinner Adkins, did say to me after the game that he felt we had a force field around the goal.
“I, personally, believe the force was with him because in the second half, although there was no malice in the game whatsoever, we were penalised seven free-kicks to nil, and we didn’t get a free-kick until the 31st minute.
“That took away all our momentum and gave South all the momentum in the world.
“If they were a good enough team to win the league, they would have won that game today, considering the amount of assistance they received.”
Clarence striker, Dwayne Walsh, 17, the Premier League’s top scorer, said: “We probably should have played better.
“We were a bit lucky at the end, I suppose.
Alexander Gordon - late chances after coming on as a substitute
“South had a lot more chances, but we managed to hang on.”
Clarence midfielder, Joseph Stevens, 22, said: “It was fair, but a draw is not so good for us.
“We were expecting more from ourselves. South Hobart played very well. The way they played was, ah, very good.
“We played well in the first half but missed a couple of chances, like one-on-one.
“In the second half, they played better than us, but I think it was a fair draw in the end.”
|
SOUTH HOBART |
|
CLARENCE UNITED |
|
20 |
Goal Attempts |
6 |
|
8 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
|
13 |
Corners |
5 |
|
11 |
Fouls Committed |
16 |
|
0 |
Off-Sides |
0 |
|
0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 (Parker 52) |
|
0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
South Hobart:
|
PLAYER |
GOAL ATTEMPTS |
SHOTS ON TARGET |
|
Robinson |
3 |
1 |
|
Lo |
1 |
1 |
|
Roach |
3 |
2 |
|
Brown |
7 |
2 |
|
Wain |
1 |
0 |
|
Cooper |
1 |
0 |
|
Ludford |
1 |
1 |
|
Beecroft |
2 |
0 |
|
Gordon |
1 |
1 |
Clarence United:
|
PLAYER |
GOAL ATTEMPTS |
SHOTS ON TARGET |
|
Walsh |
1 |
1 |
|
Emmanueli |
3 |
0 |
|
Bremner |
2 |
1 |