Walter Pless on Football

By Walter Pless

Division One, Wellesley Park, Sunday, 2 September 2007

South Hobart 5 (Veness 11, Franklin 23, T Wailes 73, D Cooper 80, 89)

Huon Valley 1 (Vale 62)

HT: 2-0 Att: 50 Ref: S Pitchford

301 game man John O’Toole heads clear

South Hobart (4-4-2): R McCallum - D Cooper, P Cooper, S Van Heyster, L Williams - J Van Heyster, H Jarvis, T Wailes, T Veness - R Franklin (F Assenheimer 53), P Jarvis [Substitutes not used: O Roberts, J Donoghue] [Player-Coach: J Donoghue]

Huon Valley (4-4-2): L Donohue - T Stauffer, A Cirvydas, J O’Toole, M Thompson - K Reddy, B Vale, D Noble, R Elliot - A Dare (T Barrett 69), R Donohoe [Substitutes not used: A Longey, I Martin]

South Hobart finished second in the Division One competition, three points adrift of champion Beachside, after beating bottom-side Huon Valley 5-1 at home at Wellesley Park on Sunday.

Fred Assenheimer beats a Huon Valley defender

South Hobart dominated the opening half and led 2-0 at the break, but a plucky Huon Valley staged a revival early in the second half and scored just past the hour mark to make it one goal the difference.

Three goals in the final 20 minutes - two of them in the last 10 minutes - killed off a tiring Valley outfit that lost all 18 of their league matches this season.

The first half was like a shooting gallery with South peppering the visitors’ goal, but good goalkeeping by Liam Donohue and stubborn defending by Tobias Stauffer, Anton Cirvydas, John O’Toole and Mark Thompson restricted South to two goals.

Huon Valley’s keeper Liam Donoghue gathers in a cross

Tom Veness, who was a constant danger down the left, fired South in front in the 11^th minute, while Rowan Franklin made it 2-0 midway through the half from David Cooper’s corner.

Ben Vale pulled a goal back for the Valley in the 62^nd minute after a defensive error by South, but Travers Wailes netted from Fred Assenheimer’s corner in the 73^rd minute to restore the home side’s two-goal buffer.

Premier League player David Cooper, who was playing at right-back, netted in the 80^th and 89^th minutes to complete South Hobart’s victory.

David Cooper scores

“It was a pretty hard-fought game,” said Huon Valley’s 46-year-old defender O’Toole, who was playing his 301^st game for the club.

He had notched up his 300^th in the reserves curtain-raiser.

“South had a lot of young guys with good control, but we weren’t a push-over and at least we pushed them.

“I think we made them play hard for their win.”

South Hobart coach, Jed Donoghue, said: “Huon Valley played well in patches and so did we, but it was a bit of a scrappy game.

Huon Valley’s Tobias Stauffer get his cross in

“We got five goals, but I was just disappointed we didn’t keep a clean sheet.”

Just as well Beachside beat Christian United the day before to take out the title. If they had lost, South Hobart would have needed a 15-0 win against Huon Valley, and that was never going to happen on this performance.

SOUTH HOBART		HUON VALLEY
29	Goal Attempts	7
12	Shots on Target	4
10	Corners	1
10	Fouls Committed	4
5	Off-Sides	1
1 (Wailes 53)	Yellow Cards	2 (Thompson 20, Stauffer 37)
0	Red Cards	0

Travis Wailes about to score from a South Hobart corner

South Hobart:

PLAYER	GOAL ATTEMPTS	SHOTS ON TARGET
Veness	9	3
H Jarvis	1	0
D Cooper	5	3
Franklin	3	2
P Jarvis	3	2
Wailes	5	1
J Van Heyster	3	1

Huon Valley:

Swallow dive

PLAYER	GOAL ATTEMPTS	SHOTS ON TARGET
Dare	1	0
Stauffer	1	0
Thompson	1	1
Donohoe	1	1
Vale	2	2
Noble	1	0

South Hobarts Rowan Franklin battles for the ball

By Walter Pless

Division One, KGV Park, Wednesday, 29 August 2007

South Hobart 3 (T Wailes 19, R Franklin 42, 50 pen)

Christian United 1 (J Arnold 85)

HT: 2-0 Att: 70 Ref: C Ware

South Hobart squad

South Hobart (1-3-4-2): A Hill - D McCormack - N Wardle, S Van Heyster, L Williams - J Van Heyster, H Jarvis, T Wailes (P Cooper 74), T Veness (P Jarvis 65) - A Wilson, R Franklin (B Klasen 68) [Substitute not used: O Roberts] [Coach: J Donoghue]

 

Christian United squad

Christian United (1-2-5-2): D Kruijver - T Wierenga - D Noble, B De Hoog (A Pilgrim 71) - J Manasseh, I Lucas, P Rae, J Arnold, J De Vries - P Otto, P Laning [Substitute not used: M Rae] [Coach: D Dolliver]

Second-placed South Hobart continued their chase of Division One leaders Beachside and moved to within three points of their rivals with this 3-1 win over second-last Christian United.

The match had been postponed on 14 July and South Hobart gave up home-ground advantage for this catch-up game.

South Hobart and Beachside both have one game to play - South Hobart are at home to last-placed Huon Valley on Saturday, while Beachside are away to Christian United on Sunday.

If South Hobart are to win the title, Beachside would have to lose to Christian United and South Hobart would have to beat Huon Valley by a minimum of 15-0.

South won the first-round encounter against Huon Valley 10-0 away at Ranelagh. They are at home at Wellesley Park this time, so anything is possible, but it may well be in Beachside’s hands as they just need a draw to make all the mathematical calculations irrelevant.

Christian United started well and had South Hobart under early pressure. The three Peters - Laning, Rae and Otto - were playing well. Laning and Rae showed physical strength in holding the ball and shooting, while Otto’s speed down the right flank had South in trouble.

South gradually gained the measure of their opponents and began to initiate dangerous attacks of their own.

In the 7^th minute, Brad De Hoog saved Christian when he blocked Jeff Van Heyster’s header on the line after a corner from the right by Tom Veness.

Travers Wailes engineered South’s first goal in the 19^th minute. It was his low shot through a crowded goalmouth that forced goalkeeper David Kruijver to dive low to his right and concede a corner.

Christian failed to clear the corner and, when Kruijver made a hash of fielding the ball, Wailes gained possession and lifted the ball over the keeper from an angle on the left.

With three minutes of the first half remaining, Rowan Franklin scored to make it 2-0. His first shot was blocked, but when the ball came back to him, he made no mistake with his second attempt.

South were spreading the ball around cleverly and stretching the Christian United defence, but Christian looked dangerous in patches, especially on the break.

Five minutes after the interval, South added their third goal with a penalty, awarded after David Noble had handled while he and Tim Wierenga broke up a South Hobart attack. Franklin easily stroked home the spot-kick.

Far from deflating Christian, this set-back spurred them on and they had some good long-range strikes that kept South’s defence on their toes.

Christian’s efforts were rewarded five minutes from the end when Jesse Arnold volleyed home a great goal from the edge of the box to make it 3-1.

South hit back and, with three minutes remaining, Kruijver produced a fine save when he turned Jeff Van Heyster’s cheeky chip wide for a fruitless corner.

“I thought it was a good contest,” said South Hobart coach, Jed Donoghue. “I thought it was a good game and I enjoyed it.

“I’m glad we got the first goal.

“They had a chance early on and we got the break and we got the goal.

“I think the boys started to relax a little bit more.

“But, yeah, the first half, it was all very fast and we didn’t put the foot on the ball and play it around.

“In the second half, we played better, but our average for the season is 3-1, and that’s what we did, which is a bit disappointing because I wanted above average and to keep a clean sheet.

“I think if we’d been a bit tighter at the back this year we would have had a better campaign.

“We’ll see what happens on Saturday with Beachside. I wish them the best of luck. They’ve been consistent. They’re a good team, but I’m hoping Christian stand up.”

Christian United coach, Dean Dolliver, said: “I thought it was a pretty good game and a pretty high standard all round.

“I thought our boys actually held their own fairly well on the whole.

“They looked as good as the other team most of the time.

“We had a good second half and I’m pretty proud. They all put in really hard and played a little bit above themselves and they looked good.

“It was a good game, a good game to watch.”

SOUTH HOBART		CHRISTIAN UNITED
19	Goal Attempts	9
10	Shots on Target	3
9	Corners	2
7	Fouls Committed	9
3	Off-Sides	1
0	Yellow Cards	2 (Rae 78, Manasseh 89)
0	Red Cards	0

South Hobart:

South Hobart Starting XI v Christian United 29.8.07

PLAYER	GOAL ATTEMPTS	SHOTS ON TARGET
Franklin	6	4
Wilson	1	0
J Van Heyster	2	2
T Wailes	4	2
Wardle	2	0
Veness	2	1
P Jarvis	1	0
H Jarvis	1	1

Christian United:

Christian United starting XI v South Hobart 29.8.07

PLAYER	GOAL ATTEMPTS	SHOTS ON TARGET
Laning	3	0
Otto	1	0
Arnold	3	2
De Vries	1	0
Noble	1	1

DIVISION ONE (As at 29 August 2007)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Beachside	15	12	2	1	64	18	38
South Hobart	15	11	2	2	50	20	35
Kingston Cannons	15	9	1	5	43	41	28
Northern Suburbs-DOSA	16	7	3	6	36	32	24
Kingborough Lions United	15	7	2	6	40	33	23
Hobart United	16	7	2	7	29	26	23
Nelson Eastern Suburbs	16	4	4	8	24	40	16
Christian United	15	3	2	10	24	42	11
Huon Valley	15	0	0	15	16	74	0

By Walter Pless

______________________________________________________________________

South Hobart Division One coach Jed Donoghue has refused to concede the title to Beachside despite the huge goal-difference in Beachside’s favour.

Beachside have one match remaining - next Saturday away to second-last Christian United at Sherburd - and lead second-placed South Hobart by six points.

South Hobart have two games remaining - Wednesday evening against Christian United at KGV Park at 8.15pm, and against bottom-side Huon Valley at home on Sunday, 2 September, at Wellesley Park.

Beachside have an 18-goal advantage in goal-difference over South Hobart and need just a draw against Christian United to make absolutely certain of the title.

South Hobart need Beachside to lose and then they could catch the leaders on points, but even then, South Hobart would have to win by mammoth scores against Christian United and Huon Valley.

In the first round games, Beachside beat Christian United 3-0, while South Hobart just scraped home 3-2 against Christian United and thrashed Huon Valley 10-0.

“I expect us to win against Christian on Wednesday night and it should be a good game,” said Donoghue.

“We have a slim hope, a very slim hope, of pipping Beachside for the title, but we’ll go for it.”

South Hobart will have David McCormack back, as well as Bernhard Klasen, who had a run in the reserves on the weekend, but the big news is they will field senior Premier League defender Hugh Ludford.

He replaces defender Craig Burgess, who is sidelined with a knee injury.

Christian United welcome back central midfielder Isaac Lucas, who has been ill with tonsillitis but played in the reserves on the weekend.

“We’ll have a similar team to the one on the weekend and it’ll be a tough game,” said United’s Jonathon Wierenga.

“We lost against them 3-2 in the first round but they scored the winner with the last kick of the game.”

By Walter Pless

____________________________________________________________

South Hobart finished second on the Premier League ladder, a point adrift of champions Tilford Zebras, after beating seventh-placed University 5-0 away at Olinda Grove.

Alexander Gordon breaks away from Taka Manaka

University were poor and had just one good chance in the 90 minutes. That was in the 28^th minute when Mills headed Manaka’s right-wing cross wide from beyond the far post.

Six minutes later, O’Brien chipped over the South Hobart bar from just outside the penalty area.

Roach deals with Shepherd and Manaka

University goalkeeper Winter pulled off a string of fine saves to keep the score less than half a dozen.

It was constant South Hobart pressure, yet the visitors had only one goal to show for it at the end of the first half, and that was from a penalty in the 42^nd minute. Michael Andrews brought down Daniel Brown and Bart Beecroft beat Winter with his spot-kick.

South might easily have had more through Brown, Cooper and Lo.

Beecroft puts South ahead with a penalty

Beecroft made it 2-0 shortly after the break, while Cooper added the third in the 63^rd minute with a tremendous strike from range.

Gordon broke through in the 75^th minute to slot away a fourth, while Beecroft completed his hat-trick with another penalty in the 79^th minute after Manaka had fouled Gordon.

Shepherd gets the ball out of defence

It came as a surprise that South Hobart kept Ross and Abbott on the bench until an hour had passed.

They pair started as twin strikers against Taroona last weekend and scored three goals between them in the 5-0 win.

Gordon and Brown, who started at the front in this match, found the going tough. Gordon did manage to score but Brown failed to do so.

Veteran Colin Shepherd puts his foot on the ball in an attempt to outwit his opponents

South Hobart can look back at their 0-0 draw with Clarence United in May and the 2-2 draw with New Town Eagles in July as major reasons for their failure to capture the title.

____________________________________________________________

• University coach, Matthew Shaw, said:

“It’s always disappointing to lose. It’s really disappointing to concede a penalty at the end of the first half.

“Cooper’s strike, especially, was quality. We were obviously not at their standard, and it showed, especially in the second half.

“Unfortunately, the penalty did deflate us and we just didn’t get it together in the second half enough to compete with them.”

University’s John Andrews clears from South’s Gordon while Michael Andrews looks on

• South Hobart coach, Steve Adkins, said:

“We really wanted to have a convincing win today. After Zebras drawing on Friday, it was something we needed to do to finish our season off well.

“The guys certainly tried their hardest through the year. Runner-up is better than last or anywhere else.

“I’m sure they’re looking forward to a good year next year now.”

 

South’s David Abbott heads toward goal

____________________________________________________________

University (1-2-5-2): Winter - M Andrews - Fletcher, J Andrews - Manaka, Richardson, Shepherd (Temby 73), Stockdale, Mills - O’Brien, Proud (Shaw 90).

Substitutes not used: Merry, Matsuo

Booked: Fletcher 39, Proud 46, Stockdale 67

Taka Manaka tussles with Jonathon Lo

South Hobart (1-2-1-4-2): Kruijver - Robinson - Ludford, Foley-Donoghue - Cooper (Horsley 84) - Wain (Ross 65), Beecroft, Roach, Lo - Gordon, Brown (Abbott 60)

Substitute not used: McCallum

Goals: Beecroft 42 pen, 48, 79 pen, Cooper 63, Gordon 75

Att: 80 (Olinda Grove, Sunday, 26 August 2007)

Ref: S Pitchford

University’s Ashley Winter beats South’s Gordon to the ball

By Walter Pless

Beachside can take out the Division One soccer title on Saturday with a win against Northern Suburbs-DOSA at home at Sandown Park.

The league leaders have no injuries and will field a full-strength line-up against fourth-placed DOSA.

“DOSA are always a tough side for us,” said Beachside president, John Brierley. “We beat them last time, but we won’t be taking them lightly this time.

“If we win, we’ve won the title, and then we’ll have a lash at the Premier League.

“We can’t be too cocky as we’ll have to win the next two games in the play-off and we don’t know yet who that will be against.”

DOSA will give a start 15-year-old Calvin Frith in place of Brendan Lietz, who is unavailable, while Derek Story will be playing his 249^th and last match for the club.

Story hit a hat-trick last week to make it 88 goals in his career and coach Stephen Pitchford will be looking for a similar performance from him this time.

Richard Korn will be playing his 214^th and final match, as will Marcus Wilde in what is his 259^th game.

“Keeper Justin Farrugia plays his 100th game for the club this weekend and the team is keen to assist in a clean sheet and postpone Beachside’s premiership celebrations for another week,” said Pitchford.

“DOSA versus Beachside games have been keenly contested over the past few years and this weekend will be no different, with the boys keen to continue on from last weekend’s 4-1 second-half performance against Nelson.

“After we dumped Beachside out of the State-wide Cup on penalties, they came back to win the first league meeting, so the return battle will be a decider for this year.”

Second-placed South Hobart take on fifth-placed Hobart United at home at Wellesley Park on Sunday without Craig Burgess, who is out for three months after a knee injury.

David McCormack is unavailable because of work commitments, but Luke Williams and Bernhard Klasen are back and, together with the in-form Huw Jarvis and Travers Wailes, will give South a formidable combination.

“It should be a good game against Hobart United, but I’m quietly confident of a result,” said South Hobart coach, Jed Donoghue.

“I think the Beachside versus DOSA game will also be a good contest.”

Hobart United beat South Hobart 2-1 in the first round and, with David Jay, Kevin Ochillo and Molano Paulo in fine form, must have a chance this time.

“South Hobart will be more prepared as they are looking for first place, or to keep second place, so we will have to play