Walter Pless on Football

By Walter Pless

Launceston City beat Somerset 2-0 at Valley Road on Saturday to collect the Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy.

Somerset, the northern Premier League champions, had several good chances in the opening quarter of an hour, including one shot from Ricky Eaves that hit the post.

But, City took the lead in the 38^th minute through substitute Josh Duncan, who converted Roger Mies’s low cross from the left.

City squandered two penalties conceded by Casey Eaves. City captain, Alex Brownlie, placed his spot-kick wide on both occasions.

With five minutes remaining, Michael Frost netted City’s second, after the Somerset keeper could only parry Anthony Macri’s shot, to ensure a happy ending to a dismal season for the Launceston outfit, who had finished fourth in the league.

It was the final appearance for City striker Mies, midfielder Justin Dyer and goalkeeper Lino Sciulli, all of whom are retiring.

“They wanted it more than us and used the retirement of Mies, Dyer and Sciulli to lift their game for this cup final,” said Somerset coach, Craig Macey.

“Apart from the opening stages, we were up against it, and Sciulli pulled one out of the hat for his final game.”

City coach, David Craig, said: “It was good, really good, more so because of the three players who were finishing up today.

“It was a very special day for them and I’m really happy for them.”

In the final southern Premier League match of the season, University withstood tremendous Metro-Claremont pressure to win 3-1 at Olinda Grove on Saturday.

Metro had most of the play in the opening half and squandered a dozen chances, including a bad miss by Edward Guma, who somehow hit the crossbar from 4 metres with an open goal beckoning after University keeper Ashley Winter had turned Adam McKeown’s shot against the post.

University, against the odds, led 1-0 at the interval through a Colin Shepherd free-kick in the 28^th minute.

Julian Poud made it 2-0 from Matthew Shaw’s cross on the hour before Metro captain Shane Kent pulled a goal back from a penalty midway through the half.

University earned a penalty in the final minute and allowed goalkeeper Winter to take it, but his spot-kick was saved by substitute keeper Troy Kaden.

Referee Stephen Pitchford ordered the kick re-taken because of an infringement and Proud made no mistake to collect his second goal of the match and make the score-line 3-1 for the home side.

Beachside made sure of the Division One championship on Saturday with a 2-1 away win over second-last Christian United at Sherburd and booked a date with Metro-Claremont for the promotion/relegation play-off beginning next weekend.

Beachside led 1-0 at the break through a shot by Sebastian Milford, which took a deflection off United’s David Noble.

John De Vries equalised in the second half, but another strike by Milford ensured Beachside of the title.

Goals by Tom McDonald, Geoff Freeman and Ben Daley gave fourth-placed Kingborough Lions United a 3-0 win over third-placed Kingston Cannons at Lightwood Park.

In the final Reserve League match of the season, seventh-ranked Taroona lost 1-0 at home to sixth-placed University at Kelvedon Park through a goal by Brook Teale.

In Friday night’s women’s State-wide Cup final, Nelson Eastern Suburbs came back from a one-goal half-time deficit against the lowly-ranked Clarence United to win 3-1 after extra-time.

Clarence, second-last on the ladder, produced a courageous and skilful display to worry the league champion and Marlugu Dixon headed them in front with the side’s first corner of the game, taken by Harkana Dixon, in the 36^th minute.

Nicole Hale equalised in the 59^th minute but was promptly sent off after receiving a second yellow card for taking off her shirt and engaging in an overly exuberant goal celebration.

Clarence almost regained the lead when Nelson’s Lauren Barnes deflected a shot against her own post, but when the ball ricocheted to Marlugu Dixon, she directed her powerful shot straight at Nelson goalkeeper Katelin Barker.

Clarence goalkeeper Tess Joiner-Stewart had an outstanding game overall, but it was her poor goalkick in the 11^th minute of extra-time that enabled Chrystal Dean to fire Nelson ahead.

Dean made it 3-1 a minute later when she ran onto a great ball out of defence and advanced on goal before beating Joiner-Dixon with a well-placed shot.

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.

South Hobart dominated the opening half and led 2-0, 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 its league matches this season.

The first half was like a shooting gallery with South Hobart 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.

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 netted in the 80^th and 89^th minutes to complete South’s victory.

“It was a pretty hard-fought game,” said Huon Valley’s 48-year-old defender O’Toole, who was playing his 301^st game for the club.

“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.”

O’Toole had notched up his 300^th game for the club by playing in the reserves curtain-raiser. He has only been playing football for 12 years, having started his career at the age of 37.

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.

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

By Walter Pless

Second-placed South Hobart will continue their pursuit of Division One leaders Beachside this weekend in the final round of matches.

South Hobart beat Christian United 3-1 at KGV on Wednesday to move to within three points of Beachside.

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

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.

South Hobart are likely to field a similar side to that of Wednesday night.

Beachside will be without injured defender Ben Davis, which means Tom Sherman will start.

“We’ll have five 17-year-olds on view, which is quite normal for us,” said Beachside president, John Brierley.

“It’ll be like that when we play Metro in the promotion and relegation play-off.”

Most of the Beachside players were at KGV on Wednesday to watch Christian United and coach Tony Kavanagh will have worked out a strategy for victory.

Beachside beat Christian 3-0 in the first round at home at Sandown Park.

Christian will miss striker Jesse Arnold, who is in Melbourne, but Scott Nicholson will return after being in the north of the State in mid-week.

David Nettlefold may also return if he has recovered from illness.

The other game on Saturday features fifth-placed Kingborough Lions United at home at Lightwood Park against third-placed Kingston Cannons.

Cannons won the first-round encounter 3-1 and coach John Cionci is confident.

“We’ll have the same team as usual and we have held on to third spot, which is great,” said Cionci.

“I watched Kingborough draw with Nelson last weekend and I wasn’t impressed.

“They need to win, though, and they’ll be on their home turf, so they’ll be hard to beat.”

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.”

Ludford clears a corner

 

By Walter Pless

_____________________________________________________________________

Alex Gordon shoots at goal

Tilford Zebras won the southern Premier League title despite being held to a goalless draw by second-last New Town Eagles at KGV Park on Friday night.

Zebras finished with 43 points, one ahead of second-placed South Hobart, who beat University 5-0 on Sunday.

Zebras will meet northern Premier League champion Somerset at Cardigan Street on 8 September to decide the State premiership.

Beecroft scores his second penalty of the match

Metro-Claremont were condemned to the wooden spoon and a home-and-away promotion/relegation play-off, probably against Beachside, after they lost 3-1 away to second-last Taroona at Kelvedon Park on Saturday.

Clarence United moved from fourth to third with a 1-0 away win against sixth-placed Kingborough Lions United on Saturday, the first-half goal coming from a Sam Cannamela penalty.

Clarence displaced Hobart Olympic, but only for 24 hours because Olympic beat Glenorchy Knights 2-1 the next day to move back and finish in third spot.

Zebras were far from impressive against a keen Eagles outfit, who needed a point to be sure of avoiding the wooden spoon.

Free kick to University

Zebras started strongly and forced three corners in quick succession, but Eagles soon had their measure and created promising chances of their own in a tense contest.

In the 25^th minute, Zebras produced a fine build-up, but Romeo Frediani fired straight at Eagles’ goalkeeper, Nathan Pitchford.

Scott Telega went close for Eagles in the 28^th minute, while Zebras’ Josh Thorpe sent a powerful drive just wide of the angle of post and crossbar five minutes before the break.

Poor finishing also characterised the second half, with Alex Leszczynski and Cormac Collins squandering good chances for Eagles and Pitchford producing a spectacular save from Aaron Brazendale, who had been put through by Brett Pullen.

Jon Foley-Donoghue clears for South

Metro’s Darrin Chaffey headed against the Taroona crossbar following Jason Dawes’s cross in the 11^th minute in the bottom-of-the-table clash.

The visitors took a 31^st-minute lead when Aaron Marney rounded both Brett Matthews and Cian Carey on the left before cutting the ball back for Dawes to score, his shot taking a deflection off Stefano Flonta before sneaking inside the far post.

Two minutes later, Taroona’s Chris Cox’s shot hit the post as the home side fought back.

Cox equalised in the 63^rd minute from Julien Timmins’s pass, while Stephen Gates put Taroona ahead three minutes later when Metro goalkeeper Neil Biggar could only parry Billy Gasparinatos’s shot.

Proud heads clear after a South Hobart corner

An own-goal by Metro defender Adrian Lawler made it 3-1, while Metro’s misery was compounded in the final minute when Terry Kent was sent off after collecting two yellow cards in quick succession.

South Hobart did it easily against University at Olinda Grove on Sunday.

A penalty by Bart Beecroft just before the interval - awarded for Michael Andrews’s foul on Daniel Brown - gave South a 1-0 lead at the break.

Beecroft made it 2-0 within three minutes of the resumption, while David Cooper added the third with a powerful long-range shot in the 63^rd minute.

Roach deals with Shepherd and Manaka

Alex Gordon scored the fourth in the 75^th minute after he was put through the home-side’s defence, while Beecroft completed his hat-trick with another penalty, awarded for Taka Manaka’s foul on Gordon, in the 79^th minute.

University rarely threatened and their only real chance came from an Adam Mills far-post header from Manaka’s right-wing cross in the 28^th minute of the first half.

University goalkeeper Ashley Winter produced some excellent saves to restrict South’s tally to five.

University have one match remaining, against bottom-side Metro-Claremont, on 1 September, and that will complete the league season.

Shepherd gets the ball out of defence

Hobart Olympic did well to overcome fifth-placed and deposed champions Glenorchy Knights 2-1 at the Athletic Centre on Sunday.

Michael Bulis, who finished as the league’s top marksman with 15 goals, put Olympic ahead from Chris Tsakiris’s through-ball in the first half, while Ben Backhaus grabbed the second after the interval. Martin Cairns scored a late consolation goal for the visitors.

Southern Premier League Ladder (as at 26 August 2007)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Tilford Zebras	18	13	4	1	59	17	43
South Hobart	18	13	3	2	47	13	42
Hobart Olympic	18	11	3	4	39	20	36
Clarence United	18	10	4	4	33	26	34
Glenorchy Knights	18	7	3	8	32	38	24
Kingborough Lions United	18	6	3	9	25