Just what the doctors ordered

Photos (Top to Bottom): Tom Roach scored South's first goal; Jonathon Lo sealed the win with the second goal late in the match [PlessPix]

Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League (Wentworth Park, Saturday, 17 April 2010)

___________________________________________________

Clarence United 0

South Hobart 2 (T Roach 10, J Lo 86)

HT: 0-1 Att: 80 Ref: K Barker

Clarence United: Sweeney - Toghill, Parker, Lewis, McMahon - S McIntyre, Stevens (Barron 68), Cannamela, Malcolm (Kunwar 75), L Huigsloot (Hamlett 58) - Cripps [Substitute not used: Sweetten]

South Hobart: Kruijver - Scott, M Brown, D Brown, Heerey - Beecroft, Upton, Roach, Hickey (Abbott 62) - Kanakaris (Wook Bum Heo 53), Lo [Substitute not used: Pennicott]

________________________________________________________

This win put South Hobart back on top in the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League competition, a point ahead of second-placed Glenorchy Knights, while Clarence United are third last.

With the sound of the booming surf at the nearby beach replacing the Mexican Wave and the sound of a huge crowd at a packed stadium, the visitors set about their task straight from the kick-off. They spread the ball wide and attacked down the flanks, but it was difficult to penetrate the massed ranks of the home side.

Liam Scott was in an adventurous frame of mind and kept his composure despite constant heckling from one Clarence supporter in particular, which reminded one of the old Heckle and Jeckle cartoon featuring the two magpies. He was seated in the top row of a temporary stand and was obviously Heckle, but I couldn’t see Jeckle anywhere.

Scott put a shot over the bar from Josh Heerey’s cross after just four minutes.

In the 10th minute, Tom Roach made it 1-0 for South Hobart with a shot out of the dark that may have taken a deflection and deceived Clarence keeper Cameron Sweeney. There was little crowd reaction, and not even the booming surf changed its rhythm.

Clarence’s first chance came after 16 minutes when Luke Cripps fired into the side-netting.

Four minutes later, Sam McIntyre attacked down the right and sent a low shot across the face of goal. He had no team-mates in advanced positions, however, and the ball stayed in play and was taken up-field on the right by South’s Heerey.

Luke Huigsloot won a corner in the 24th minute with a back-header that was off target and nothing came of the set-piece.

Five minutes before the break, Jonathon Lo drove a free-kick over the bar, while in the 42nd minute, a shot by Shae Hickey threatened to sneak in but Sweeney got down at his near post to block.

Kostas Kanakaris received a needless yellow card in the 43rd minute when he impeded Sweeney as the keeper tried to punt the ball up-field.

The first half ended with Clarence’s Grant Malcolm sending a free-kick wide of the target.

Six minutes after the resumption, Sam Kruijver was brought into the action as he blocked the ball at McIntyre’s feet.

Kanakaris was replaced by Korean import Wook Bum Heo, who proved a lively customer and was cautioned late in the match.

Ben Hamlett came on for Clarence’s Luke Huigsloot just short of the hour mark and he was to have an influence on events before the end, as was South’s David Abbott, who replaced Hickey in the 62nd minute.

Youngster Andy Barron replaced Joseph Stevens for Clarence in the 68th minute, while Dipendra Kunwar was introduced by Clarence for Malcolm in the 75th minute. Kunwar had recently left Olympia Warriors.

All these substitutions in a matter of minutes were designed to liven things up as a stalemate had developed on the park, but it was an explosive incident in the 77th minute, involving one of the substitutes, that provided the only real excitement.

Hamlett was involved in a challenge with South’s Garry Upton, who took umbrage and head-butted the youngster in the face. Mr Barker sent Upton off and Hamlett needed treatment to a facial injury. When he returned to the action, he had a bandage on his nose and face.

The send-off resulted in a free-kick for Clarence and McIntyre pumped the ball towards the far post. Kruijver parried the ball and it rolled loose to Cripps, who slammed it inside the far corner of the net, but Clarence’s glee was cut short by the assistant referee’s raised flag and the effort was ruled off-side.

Six minutes from the end, Clarence had another good chance when a Cripps free-kick was dropped by Kruijver, but Ben Parker’s attempted shot was weak and came back off the post to be gathered in by Kruijver.

With four minutes remaining and Clarence all out in attack seeking an equaliser, they were caught by a sucker punch. David Abbott played a long ball out of defence from the left and Lo was left with the easy task of controlling and placing his shot past Sweeney to kill off the game.

For the statistically minded, Clarence had 7 shots to South Hobart’s 8, while both sides committed 20 fouls. Both sides had 3 corners and 2 yellow cards. South had one red card. Clarence were off-side once (when it really did count) and South Hobart four times.

It's interesting, too, that the goals came from the two players that returned to South Hobart after spending last season with Somerset. I guess it's just what the doctors ordered.

_________________________________________________________

· Clarence United technical director, Franco Previdi, said:

“They scored and we didn’t. We had a goal disallowed. I think it was a goal and we had at least fifty people there and they reckon it was a goal. I don’t know what the linesman was thinking.

“But, having said that, I’m not going to argue about that decision. I mean, they had shots at goal, too, in the second half and they scored and we didn’t.

“I think, overall, a draw would have been a fair result. They had a lot of possession, no doubt, but that was our plan. If you noticed, with about 20 minutes to go, we went to a 4-3-3 instead of the defensive formation we had all game before that. We’ll think about different tactics the next time.

“Good luck to South Hobart. They put the ball in the net.”

· South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“It’s three points. I thought we controlled the game obviously without a lot of penetration.

“You come away from home and you expect the home team to have a go at you, but they sat back and defended, had a lot of bodies behind the ball and made life difficult for us.

“Our lads persevered and we got a couple of good balls in behind them in the second half and one in particular, from Davie Abbott to Johnny Lo for the second goal, which put it beyond doubt.

“Credit to them for the perseverance, and credit to Clarence as well for defending well for a long period of time.”