Walter Pless on Football

Hobart Olympic v New Town Eagles Match Report

June 16, 2007 @ 11:59 pm · Filed under Hobart Olympic, Match Reports, New Town Eagles, Premier League

By Walter Pless

Premier League, Athletic Centre, Saturday, 16 June 2007

Hobart Olympic 2 (Vavoulas 22, Grillas 89)

New Town Eagles 0

HT: 1-0 Att: 100 Ref: P Angel

Hobart Olympic (3-5-2): D Nester - C Tsakiris - N Vavoulas, P Kaproulias - R Lebski, F Tracy, L Mason, D Djekanovic, B Backhaus - M Bulis (K Grillas 61), C Winter (A Ayman 78) [Substitute not used: L Gillam] [Coach: F Shaw]

New Town Eagles (3-5-2): N Pitchford - A Telega - C Stingle, S Telega - A Leszczynski, G Reeks, A Clark (B Whitehall 87), M Rybak, C Collins - R Leszczynski (B Zielinski 61) A Shackcloth (C Jones 74) [Substitute not used: M Page] [Coach: I Parker]

Robert Lebski (Hobart Olympic) is a former Eagles player

New Town Eagles remain bottom of the Premier League after losing 2-0 to Hobart Olympic at the Athletic Centre.

The prize for Olympic was second place on the table. They have the same goal-difference as South Hobart, but have scored more goals.

Andrew Clarke gets a pass away

Eagles were worth at least a point. Graham Reeks hit the post early on, while Olympic’s Chris Tsakiris twice cleared off the goal-line in the closing minutes. This combination of bad luck and poor finishing is what is costing Eagles dearly.

Having said that, Olympic did well despite being under pressure for much of the match. Eagles goalkeeper, Nathan Pitchford, saved well from Danijel Djekanovic to concede a corner, while Djekanovic hit the crossbar with that corner.

Cormac Collins finds a way past Lee Mason

Substitute Kosta Grillas, who had scored a hat-trick in the Reserve League curtain-raiser, also hit the crossbar with a cleverly executed header after being put through by Fletcher Tracy.

Richard Leszczynski, Eagles’ veteran striker, played his second game since being recalled, but was unable to make an impact. He was well held by Nektar Vavoulas, who had a great game.

Leszczynski appeared to be brought down by Olympic goalkeeper, Dmitri Nester, early in the match, but Mr Angel did not even contemplate awarding a penalty. Leszczynski made a mild protest, but no-one else joined in.

Vavoulas, who took time out from his defensive duties to score Olympic’s opener, appeared to be everywhere and was often a source of danger to the Eagles defence.

Cormac Collins under pressure from Robert Lebski and Fletcher Tracey

Olympic were without captain and sweeper, Peter Tsakiris, but his brother, Chris, filled in perfectly.

Cormac Collins worried Olympic with his dribbling and running, and he did get in one powerful shot, but it was straight into Nester’s arms.

Vavoulas volleyed home Fletcher Tracy’s free-kick from the left in the 22^nd minute to give Olympic the lead.

Nektar Vavoulas volleys Olympic ahead

Three minutes after the interval, Robert Lebski, the former Eagles player, made a good run down the right and crossed low across the face of goal, but there was no-one up in support.

In the 75^th minute, Tskairis blocked Andrew Clark’s shot on the line following Andrew Telega’s low cross from deep on the right. Nester had blocked Clark’s initial effort at his feet.

Eleven minutes from the end, Tracy put Grillas through the defence with a well-timed pass and the Olympic substitute, seeing Pitchford off his line, powered a header over the goalkeeper, but the ball came back off the crossbar. It fell for Grillas again, but he drove high over the bar.

Fletcher Tracy cannot cut out Andew Clark’s pass

In the 81^st minute, Nester did well to save from Clark, the chance having again been set up by Andrew Telega.

Olympic counter-attacked immediately and Grillas was put through the defence, but the alert Pitchford saved at his feet.

Three minutes from the end, following a corner, Tsakiris again saved on the line, this time from Reeks’s shot.

In the final minute, Tracy attacked down the left and, with too many Eagles players caught upfield, his low ball into the box was prodded home by Grillas past an unprotected Pitchford, to make it 2-0.

Olympic goalkeeper Dmitri Nester fields a cross

“It was a good win, particularly because we had about four or five players out and the young lads who came in, such as Courtney Winter, up front, did a good job,” said Hobart Olympic coach, Farrell Shaw.

“The old head, Robert Lebski, came in and, yes, I was very happy.

“Leading 1-0, I was worried all the time.

“They had, like, three chances and two were cleared off the line and they hit the crossbar, so I was always worried at 1-0.”

Hobart Olympic coah Farrell Shaw

New Town Eagles coach, Ian Parker, refused to speak to the media, including the Aurora Channel on Austar, which will televise highlights of the game on Channel 183 next Thursday between 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

HOBART OLYMPIC		NEW TOWN EAGLES
13	Goal Attempts	14
5	Shots on Target	6
6	Corners	6
8	Fouls Committed	12
0	Off-Sides	1
1 (Grillas 80)	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0