Costly misses spell defeat for Eagles

Photos (Top to Bottom): The teams shake hands before the match; Eagles' Adam McKeown beats Zebras keeper Troy Kaden in the air to head his side's second goal; Zebras' Dwayne Walsh eludes Eagles' Steve Louden and Jamie Vernon; Zebras' Ricky Self (No.3) wins a header in midfield; Eagles' Steve Louden wins a header against Zebras' Jordan Muller; Eagles' Steve Louden clears the ball ahead of Zebras' Matt Hall; Zebras' Matt Hall gets a pass away before Andrew Clark can intervene; Eagles' Alex Leszczynski shields the ball from Zebras' Ryan Smith; Eagles' Michael Anderson heads clear before Ricky Self can pose a danger; Eagles' Andrew Clark sends the ball forward; Zebras' Ben Crosswell (No. 10) wheels away after scoring Zebras' opener; Eagles' Andrew Clark wrong-foots Ben Crosswell; Eagles' Ben Whitehall (left) vies for possession with Zebras' Paul Cairns; Eagles' Michael Anderson gets in a tackle on Zebras' Matt Hall [PlessPix]

Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League (Clare Street, Sunday, 18 April 2010)

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New Town Eagles 2 (A Leszczynski 46, A McKeown 63)

Tilford Zebras 3 (B Crosswell 12, 90+4, D Walsh 55)

HT: 0-1 Att: 80 Ref: C Phillips

New Town Eagles: Pitchford - Page, Wass (Menzie 86), Louden, Clark - Whitehall, Anderson, Kent, Vernon - McKeown, Leszczynski [Substitutes not used: Clamp, Fennell, Minty] [Coach: George Krambousanos]

Tilford Zebras: Kaden - Muller, Telega, Smith, K Engels (P Cairns 65) - Hall, Welch, Self, L Engels - Crosswell, Walsh (Young 86) [Substitutes not used: Cox, Voss] [Coach: Romeo Frediani]

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New Town Eagles threw this match away through poor finishing.

Much of the credit for Tilford Zebras’ victory must go to goalkeeper Troy Kaden, who saved four one-on-one situations.

And, another star of the match was Zebras’ Ben Crosswell, who scored twice and made the other goal for Dwayne Walsh.

Crosswell’s winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of the match was with his weaker right foot, which made it even more noteworthy.

Eagles’ first chance came in the 7th minute when a poor back-pass by Kurt Engels let Ben Whitehall in, but his shot was blocked by Kaden and the rebound was bundled out of play by Whitehall while under pressure from Kaden and Kurt Engels.

In the 11th minute, Eagles goalkeeper Nathan Pitchford produced a magnificent save to deny Ricky Self, tipping his goal-bound shot over the bar for a corner. Ironically, it was from this corner that Zebras took the lead. Matt Hall floated the corner in from the left and Crosswell scored to give the visitors the lead.

Eagles missed their second good chance in the 27th minute when Shane Kent played a neat one-two with Adam McKeown on the edge of the box, but again, Kaden was up to the task and produced a fine save when it really should have been a goal for the home side.

Walsh had a good chance for Zebras on the half-hour, following a cross from the right, and he should have done much better than merely direct a tame header straight at Pitchford.

Two minutes later, Kaden was at his best again as he denied McKeown in a one-on-one with the Eagles striker.

In the 34th minute, Crosswell lost the ball in midfield to Kent, who slipped it through to Alex Leszczynski for a clear run at goal, but he incredibly shot wide with the goal at his mercy.

Five minutes later, Kaden did well to save from Whitehall. The ball rebounded to Jamie Vernon, who shot wide when he might have scored.

The first half ended with Walsh firing wide after the ball had rebounded to him off the back of Eagles midfielder Michael Anderson.

Eagles coach George Krambousanos must have had some special words for his charges at half-time as they were level at 1-1 within 15 seconds of the resumption. A long ball forward straight from the kick-off went to Zebras captain Andrew Telega, who tried to head it back to Kaden.

The header was too soft, however, and Leszczynski nipped in and lobbed the ball over the keeper and it bounced once before crossing the line for the equaliser.

Zebras regained the lead in the 55th minute when Crosswell mesmerised a couple of defenders down the left before sending over a perfect cross which Walsh hammered into the net to make it 2-1.

Eagles refused to give in and they again drew level when, in the 63rd minute, McKeown beat Kaden to a cross and glanced the ball into the net from the edge of the box.

Ten minutes from the end, Hall shot wide for Zebras, while at the other end, seconds later, McKeown’s header put Leszczynski in the clear, but he also fired wide.

Four minutes into stoppage time, Crosswell gained possession in midfield and went on a diagonal run from left to right just outside the box before turning and planting a right-foot shot across Pitchford and inside the far left-hand post.

It was the last kick of the match and there was not even time to re-start the game. It doesn’t come much closer than that.

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· New Town Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, said:

“I think we should have won the game by about 6-2, yet one player, and we spoke about that at half-time, one player destroyed us.

“What can you do? We had plenty of chances but didn’t put them away again.

“Good luck to the Zebras. I mean, that’s their strength. That’s their full strength.

“I’ll say it again, we should have won by about three or four goals.

“I can’t say anymore. Congratulations to Zebras.”

· Tilford Zebras coach, Romeo Frediani, said:

“I’m glad we got three points in the end.

“I thought in the first half there were patches where we did really well. We knocked the ball around and we hit each others' feet and there were some good passages of play there.

“But, those two goals in the second half really let them back in the game.

“After our second goal, we really should have finished them off with another couple.

“But, I’ll take the goal at the end.”