Monday, March 23, 2009

South Hobart beat Knights to go top of the ladder


Photo: Knights defend a corner against South

Forestry Tasmania Premier League, South Hobart, Sunday, 22 March 2009

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South Hobart 4 (Ludford 41, Ladic 66, Downes 71, 79)
Glenorchy Knights 0

HT: 1-0 Att: 140 Ref: S Collins
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South Hobart (4-4-2): Kruijver - Cooper (Pennicott 29), Ludford, D Brown, Scott - Downes, Upton (Bladel 80), Ladic, Hickey - Ross (Wardle 72), Eaves [Substitute not used: Moncur] [Coach: K Morton]

Glenorchy Knights (3-5-2): Peter - Wiggins, Grundy, Smith (Vavoulas 67) - Koroma, Fielding, Kamba (Clay 56), Dzelalija (Paite 70), Roberts - Hope, Sherman [Substitute not used: Tatnell] [Coach: E Kelly]
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Glenorchy Knights had no answers to counter a resolute South Hobart in this top-of-the-table clash.

Knights left Jade Clay on the bench until the second half and they played Amadu Koroma wide on the right, where he was often left isolated.

Cosmos Paite also started on the bench and did not make an appearance until the 70-minute mark.

The Knights did not have a shot on target in the first half, while in the second, they had two chances, one of which fell to William Roberts but was turned over for a corner by Sam Kruijver.

The Knights also tried to mix it physically with South and came off second best, although South were lucky late in the match to finish with eleven players after a scuffle in the Knights penalty area saw a Knights player wrestled to the ground.

South introduced 16-year-old Jim Pennicott and 15-year-old Hugo Bladel as substitutes and both youngsters did reasonably well against much more experienced opponents.

South are far from full-strength, but with newcomers like these two making their way through, the future looks bright.

It was ironic that two former Knights players were at the heart of South’s victory.

Shae Hicky had an excellent game in midfield, while Jonathon Ladic scored South’s second goal direct from a free-kick to effectively end the game as a contest.

Youngster Greg Downes was also in fine form. He scored two goals and went close on several other occasions.

He even had the confidence to attempt an audacious first-time volley from a cross from the right in the second half. This time, he screwed the ball up and over the bar, but the time will surely come when he hits those into the back of the net like a rocket.

South went close as early as the 12th minute when Downes put Ricky Eaves through, but the striker shot over the bar.

On the half-hour, Knights had a chance but settled for a corner when Liam Scott’s attempted clearance was blocked by James Hope.

A minute later, Hickey almost embarrassed Knights goalkeeper Ben Peter, who had fluffed a clearance, but the Knights got away with it.

In the 37th minute, Hope’s cross from the right found Koroma, but he was slow in controlling the ball at the far post and Kruijver was able to smother the ball.

Four minutes before the interval, a corner from the right by Ladic found Hugh Ludford unmarked on the edge of the box. The centre-back swivelled and drove home a low right-footed shot that lacked pace, but found its way into the net through a crowded goal-mouth to give South the lead.

South had one more chance before the break, but Scott shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Five minutes after the break, the Knights had their best chance of the game when Pennicott gave away possession to Roberts, following Mynonge Kamba’s diagonal pass to the left, but Kruijver was up to it and tipped a fierce drive over the bar for a corner.

In the 54th minute, Kamba inadvertently headed the ball straight into the path of Downes, but he headed wide and let Knights off the hook.

In the 61st minute, Koroma’s back-pass was a little too soft and Peter lost possession to Hickey, who clipped the top of the crossbar with his shot from a difficult angle.

Five minutes later, Ladic made it 2-0 with a free-kick from just outside the left corner of the box, the ball going over the wall and beyond the diving Peter and into the far corner of the net.

In the 71st minute, it was 3-0 as Eaves’s long throw-in from the right was flicked on by Hickey and Downes headed home.

South’s fourth, in the 79th minute, was started by Hickey’s clever ball with the outside of his foot down the line on the right for Upton, whose chip over Peter came back into play off the far post. The on-rushing Downes made no mistake with his controlled and accurate shot.

Downes might have completed his hat-trick five minutes from the end when Hickey fed Nathan Wardle on the right. Peter got to the cross but could only punch it to Downes, who hit the post with his shot.

Knights went close in the 92nd minute when Josh Fielding shot just wide of the left-hand upright, but South had the last say when Ladic crossed from the right, only to see Downes put his attempt over the bar.

The win leaves South alone at the top of the ladder after two rounds and with no goals conceded and seven in the bag.

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  • South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“It was a good win. The first 20 minutes were physical. They obviously came and did some man marking jobs and applied a lot of pressure on us.

“But, once we started to get the ball down and played around them a little bit, the spaces started to come and, obviously, in the second half, the chances started to come as well.

“We were solid at the back. I mean, maybe they’ve had two chances in 90 minutes, and we’ve had a few.

“Some good finishing by young Downes, great free-kick from Johnny Ladic, we’ve got to be happy with that.

“You know, four nil against the Knights, who’ll be there or thereabouts come the end of the year.”

  • Glenorchy Knights coach, Eamonn Kelly, said:

“I think it was a good game of football spoiled by three officials.

“But, apart from that, yeah, we got what we deserved.

“The first half I thought we were in it, but the goal just before half-time sort of broke our back.

“We never recovered after that.

“But, we played some good football in the first half. We took it to them and I thought we were in with a sniff, but the silly goal we gave away at the wrong time and it cost us dearly.

“I still don’t think that we played that bad that we should have lost four nil, but that’s football, and we did.”

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STATISTICS
SOUTH HOBART GLENORCHY KNIGHTS
15 Goal Attempts 8
8 Shots on Target 2
6 Corners 3
12 Fouls Committed 12
1 Off-Sides 2
4 (D Brown 6, Upton 81, Bladel 81, Hickey 87) Yellow Cards 3 (Smith 58, Dzelelija 54, Grundy 68)
0 Red Cards 0
South Hobart:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Eaves 1 0
Hickey 2 1
Downes 7 4
Ludford 1 1
Scott 1 1
Ross 1 0
Wardle 1 0
Upton 1 1

Glenorchy Knights:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Fielding 3 0
Hope 1 0
Roberts 2 1
Sherman 1 1
Koroma 1 0

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting to see yet another bagging of the referee - what could he have done better? Sour grapes perhaps from Kelly?

Anonymous said...

I believe its James Hope unless his father is out of retirement

Chaffey said...

"Walter"
It was interesting to see Marty Nidorfer's comments about Friday night's game against Metro. Did you make the game? I didn't see a report. How are Metro Looking? Apart from the Scottish guy's they have picked up,What has changed? Have they changed the water supply out at Chigwell? they seem to be a complete new team!

Anonymous said...

Hm, sour grapes indeed! Although the free kick decision leading to the second goal was a little bit strange, Knights were never in the game - they were ineffective in attack and coughed up possession far too easily in midfield. South were more physical, and although the younger players were a little ill-disciplined during some heated challenges, the three officials had absolutely no bearing on the final outcome.

Anonymous said...

And the Season Begins

I only saw the last 10 minutes or so of the Metro game. I had a prior engagement at 6pm and so couldn't get there until the game was almost over and that is why there was no match report.

Metro took ages to get going against Nelson in their final group game. They then did it easily against Beachside in the semi-finals.

The things that have changed are the acquisition of the three Scottish lads, who form the spine of the side - central defender, central midfielder and striker - and the return of Nathan Brown. That means they now have goalscorers. All good teams have that basic spine as well.

So, it's nothing to do with the water but rather good new players. Metro had some good, young players before, but the new acquisitions and Brown will inspire those good young players and the others.

Anonymous said...

Comments from mr kelly are NO surprise!

ALWAYS THE OFFICIALS FAULT

Maybe an understanding of the laws of the game wouldn't go astray!

Get a grip kelly

admirer said...

I am an official from the Knights - Souths game. I owe mr Kelly and the Knights players a huge favour. The call on my time has been extremely tight between spending time with my family and multiple weekend appointments and midweek referee training.

The attitude of the Knights players and officials towards referees has made my decision extremely simple.

On Monday I informed FFT that I will no longer be available for appointments.

It is extremely dissapointing that senior players continue to play mindgames with referees to gain an advantage for their team. The only thing it achieves is that half reasonable officials choose to do other things with their time. After all the money gained from refereeing barely pays the costs in being able to officiate.

For the sake of this wonderful game, and the steady flow of young refs that have been recently recruited, it is hoped that players and team officials, take a good look at themselves and adjust their behaviour accordingly.

I realise that there are many fine examples of player and coaching behaviour amongst our ranks, and it has been a sheer pleasure to look after the games where these peole have been involved, unfortunately as with many things a few spoil it for the many.

Love your work, Walter, keep it up!

Sir Mix a Lot said...

Would have to agree with Ben's comments, South simply streets ahead of Knights and i doubt any of the other teams will be able to match them consistently. Predict them to win by a clear 4 games.
I think its fair to say Knights have had some horrible and costly decisions go against however in both their games you could not argue that the match result reflected the game pattern and that would happen 9 times out of 10.
Coaches should know better than to critisize referees although to be fair on them they are probably still worked up when Walter sticks his recorder in their face and asks them questions. Wonder if Walter asked Kelly purposely about the officiating knowing he'd get a reaction?
Not keeping count or anything but i believe 3 or 4 coaches after game comment out of the 2 rounds have been directed at the quality of officiating.
Does make for good reading though, i guess that is the nature of the beast, same happens in the EPL.
Just like the playing/coaching quality is fairly low in the State the officiating is not likely to be high quality either.
Maybe FFT should get involved when a coach speaks out of line regarding officials in order to protect the image of the game, especially with the increased interest in the sport here over the last two years.

iw said...

Admirer. So the players and officials should adjust their behaviour accordingly, fair enough. In saying this the refs get paid to do what they do. Who reviews there performances each week? People are always complaining about the refs. Love it or hate It, its part of being a ref and this will continue for years to come....especially seeing as your are reffing a competitive sport! Yes, you shouldnt have to put up with it but you get paid.... if i was bad at my job and made alot of mistakes week in, week out i would expect something to happen about it. The refs make alot of mistakes down here and nothing ever happens about it. Its the same old refs every week (i know it is hard due to the shortage) Some are alright but others are biased and are not up to reffing in all honestly. Also do lines man know they can pull up more that offside and throw ins. So many times you see fouls going on right near the linesman that the linesman does nothing about...and normally the ref is to far away to see clearly. Good performance by South on the weekend. Knights really struggled up front

Anonymous said...

iw, sure the refs make some mistakes, but nowhere near as many as the players. Do the referees berate the players for their mistakes?

Anonymous said...

Sir Mix a Lot, (or should I call you Sir Stir the Pot?) there is no way I would ever ask a coach to comment on the refereeing. I usually simply say : "Comments, please", or "What did you think of the game?". They are then on their own.

I think it's important that readers hear the coaches' views on the game and not just read my assessment of the games.

If a coach comments negatively about a referee's performance, he knows what the consequences could be. It's up to FFT to take action if they see fit.

I think it's a bit over the top to suggest that I would lead a coach down a certain path by my questioning. I give them credit for having enough intelligence to not fall for such questions if I were foolish enough to ask them, so I don't ask them.

Sir Mix a Lot said...

Thanks for clearing that up Walter, its good for everyone to know that the coaches are bringing the officiating up themselves. Apologies if the question offended, that was not the intention at all and upon review just poorly worded.
SirKeephisMouthShut

iw said...

Ben, is football in Tassie a job/career for the players? It is a job for the Refs, they get paid. Therefore they are providing a service and getting paid for it. I am not doubting the mistakes of the players but that isnt even in question here as they are not paid to play, its the other way around. How can the players be expected to not get upset/angry at the refs over poor decisions when they pay all this rego each season? Some of the refs turn up, make alot of mistakes and get paid. When this happens they arent doing their job! If nothing gets done about a ref performing badly is it just bad luck to the clubs and players when they are the ones paying the money to play and enter the Leagues?

Captain said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Greg Ludford said...

A very good & entertaining game to watch for my money - all the more for South’s win particularly given the second round SH v GK game last year.
The Knights always come to play and provide an open & exciting game.
It was a physical opening for sure with some late tackles & GK obviously trying to unsettle the SH keeper with a bit of verbal. Great second half from SH, demonstrated a lot of composure and a solid game plan. Must have been a good reason to keep Jade Clay on the bench for the first half, I rate him highly in the comp. Also assume Cory came off for an “indiscrete” tackle because he was playing well. Tough game to ref for sure, 7 yellows but Mr Collins reserved with the red and unmoved by a bit of howling from the SH Faithful (me included). Also plenty of helpful advice provided to the linesman which for some reason the appeared to ignore.

iw said...

Boof. I agree with most of what you said. I am not talking about the responisiblities of the players and coaches but of that of the refs. All the time we here about player behaviour. I would say it is important if the refs are getting paid, with money coming from regos and the club. If the ref is consistiently bad week in and week out they arent doing their job are they? Some refs are good. I would prefer to have refs that make mistakes then none at all as well. But there are some refs who are biased and extremely poor. Which is unfair and nothing is ever done about it