Saturday, April 4, 2009

Tilford Zebras move into third spot on Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League ladder

Forestry Tasmania Premier League, KGV Park, Friday, 3 April 2009
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Tilford Zebras 4 (Crosswell 13, 27, 59, Savage og 34)
New Town Eagles 2 (Clark 12, Ferrall 77)

HT: 3-1 Att: 120 Ref: I Jozeljic
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Tilford Zebras (3-5-2): Kaden - Telega, Smith, Connolly (Cairns 53) - Brazendale, Fagg, Pace, Self, Welch - Walsh, Crosswell [Substitutes not used: Hall, K Engels] [Coach: N Lapolla]

New Town Eagles (4-4-2): Soszynski - Page, Savage, Wass, Rybak (Anderson 46) - Kavanagh, Clark, Malakoff (Ferrall 46), Vernon (Whitehall 46) - McKeown, Leszczynski [Substitute not used: Minty] [Coach: G Krambousanos]
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This win lifted Tilford Zebras to third spot on goal-difference, level on 7 points with leaders South Hobart and second-placed Clarence United.

New Town Eagles scored first and missed some other excellent chances before Zebras equalised and took control of the match.

Ben Crosswell hit a hat-trick for Zebras and missed several more chances.

He displayed magnificent ball control in the 73rd minute when he pulled down a cross from Dwayne Walsh and turned to shoot, only to see Michael Soszynski block from close-range.

Crosswell also had an effort cleared off the line, a header skim the bar, and several shots go just wide in what was an excellent performance.

Jayden Welch was a constant threat to Eagles on the Zebras’ left flank and his crosses were always dangerous, while his shooting constantly threatened the opposition. He also did plenty of defensive work when Eagles were in possession.

Eagles rallied near the end and only a superb save by Troy Kaden prevented them from getting to within a goal of Zebras.

With his side trailing 3-1 at the break, Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, made three substitutions at the interval, one of whom - Nick Ferrall - scored to make the second half level at one goal for each team.

Eagles went close in the 4th minute when Jacob Kavanagh sent in a powerful low drive which flashed just wide of the left-hand post.

In the 12th minute, Eagles hit the lead. Jacob Malakoff made a great run down the right, skipping past three challenges before crossing for Andrew Clark to hammer home from the edge of the box.

This served only to pull the Zebras’ tail and they were level within a minute.

Aaron Brazendale cut in from the right and played an accurate diagonal ball wide to Crosswell, who shot across Soszynski from the left of the box and inside the far post.

Eagles hit back and Alex Leszczynski hit a tremendous free-kick centimetres wide of Kaden’s right-hand upright from 20 metres.

Zebras gained the lead in the 27th minute when Crosswell controlled Welch’s left-wing cross, turned and scored from 12 metres.

In the 34th minute, Welch’s low cross from the left was fired into his own net by Wade Savage, who was under pressure from Crosswell, to make it 3-1.

Seven minutes later, Leszczynski tapped a short-free-kick square to Kavanagh, but he fired straight at Kaden.

Welch then lobbed an effort over the bar and also won a corner as Soszynski tipped his shot over.

The first half ended with the busy Kavanagh shooting just wide of the Zebras' far post.

Zebras almost extended their lead shortly after the resumption when Welch sent a ball across the goalmouth, but Crosswell’s shot at the far post was cleared off the line by Clark.

Nevertheless, Crosswell completed his hat-trick to make it 4-1 in the 59th minute. Substitute Paul Cairns’s shot was parried by Soszynski and Crosswell followed up to score easily.

Crosswell, who was creating many shooting chances for himself, fired narrowly wide in the 68th minute, while in the 73rd, he showed outstanding skill to control a cross and get in a shot, only to be denied by Soszynski.

Eagles netted their second goal in the 77th minute when Kaden failed to hold Leszczynski’s free-kick from wide on the left and substitute Nick Ferrall scored.

A minute later, Adam McKeown sent in a splendid shot that appeared destined for the back of the net until Kaden dived and tipped it over the bar for a corner.

Zebras almost found a fifth goal five minutes from the end when Brazendale’s cross from the byline on the right found the unmarked Crosswell at the far post, but his header scraped the top of the bar and went out for a goal-kick.

With a minute to go, Henry Fagg had an effort deflected for a fruitless corner.

Eagles stay in sixth place with one win from four outings. They have scored 9 goals but have conceded fourteen.

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  • Tilford Zebras coach, Nick Lapolla, said:

“I think we pretty much had full control of the game.

We knocked it around well and young Jayden [Welch] who came into the game played brilliantly.

“He gave us a lot of width and the crosses he gave caused a lot of problems.

“I thought we penetrated pretty well and pretty much had the game under control.”

  • New Town Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, said:

“I think the Zebras were at their best today.

“The positive part about it from our point of view is that we are scoring goals, but we just have to tighten up a little bit on the back-line.

“Full credit once again to the Zebras.

“I think in the last ten minutes we created quite a few chances and were a bit unlucky.

“But, that’s football. It was a good game and I enjoyed it.

“Zebras did play well, though, very well.

“We’ve still got a little bit more to learn, a little bit more to do, but we’ll get there slowly.”
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STATISTICS

TILFORD ZEBRAS NEW TOWN EAGLES
26 Goal Attempts 12
9 Shots on Target 7
7 Corners 5
9 Fouls Committed 9
4 Off-Sides 2
1 (Brazendale 25) Yellow Cards 3 (Anderson 56, Wass 64, Savage 80)
0 Red Cards 0

Tilford Zebras:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Crosswell 9 7
Connolly 1 0
Telega 1 0
Brazendale 4 0
Fagg 2 0
Welch 7 2
Self 2 0

New Town Eagles:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Kavanagh 3 1
Wass 1 1
Clark 1 1
Leszczynski 4 1
Ferrall 1 1
McKeown 1 1
Savage 1 1

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