Photos (Top to Bottom): Dipendra Kunwar...Clarence may use him as an impact player against his former club, Olympia; Greg Freeman will be back for Kingborough against South Hobart; Hard-core Knights fans Ante Dzelalija, Marco Begovic, Ivan Stefanovic and Milan Lasic are bound to be at Clare Street to support their side against Eagles; Marcello Marchioli...Kingborough midfielder respected for his skills and creativity by South Hobart coach, Ken Morton; Emmanuel Tsakiris...may get a run for Clarence against his former club, Olympia; Tony Dzelalija may be out for two or three weeks and will miss Knights' game against Eagles; Knights striker Amadu Koroma will be keen to score against Eagles, his former club; Eagles striker Adam McKeown is the league's leading marksman [PlessPix]
Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League leaders South Hobart face a difficult game away to fourth-ranked Kingborough Lions United at Lightwood Park at 2.30pm on Sunday.
Kingborough will be keen to bounce back from last weekend’s 3-0 loss to New Town Eagles and home-ground advantage will count in their favour.
The return of striker Greg Freeman and midfielder Marcello Marchioli is also a huge bonus for the Lions.
“Last week’s performance was very disappointing and we are looking to have a positive response against South Hobart this week,” said Lions coach, Geoff Freeman.
“They have a group of individuals who can turn a game by themselves and we know that we will be up against it, but we feel we are capable of getting another positive result against them.”
South Hobart won the first-round meeting between the sides 1-0.
South will be missing central defender Hugh Ludford, who has a knee injury, but defender Josh Heerey is fit and likely to be selected.
“We’re not going to rush Hugh Ludford back and so he’ll miss the game, but Josh Heerey has recovered and he trained well this week,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton. ‘We’ll have a full-strength squad to pick from.
“We’re confident, but we expect another tough game down there.
“I don’t think they’ll sit so deep on their home ground. They’ll want to get points down there, especially after losing last week.
“I’m very respectful. I think they’re a very well organised side and, when you’re strong and organised at the back, and with Marcello Marchioli, who is a very creative player, in midfield, and Greg Freeman and Tom McDonald up front as the strikers, they’re quick and sharp and keep you under pressure, so we have to be careful.
“We have to be very respectful of them.
“But, having said that, we have to play our football and try and win matches by playing attacking football.”
Third-placed Tilford Zebras are in action at KGV Park on Friday night at 8pm against second-last Taroona.
This will be the first game at KGV Park in a month, the ground having been closed so that the goalmouths could be repaired.
Zebras will be without midfielder Ricky Self, who is unavailable, and he will be replaced by Jonathon Ladic, who has been signed from South Hobart.
David Cox is injured and Jordan Muller regains his place in the side as a result, while Matt Hall is also available.
“I hope we play better than last week,” said Zebras coach, Romeo Frediani. “I can’t see why we can’t recover, especially on our home ground.
“If we play like we can, there shouldn’t be any problems.
“If we’re not going to put it together and create chances, then we can’t win games.”
Taroona should be at full strength.
“I don’t expect to make too many changes to the side,” said Taroona coach, Ben Horgan. “After a slow start, I thought we played reasonably well against Olympia on Sunday and it was only a really good strike by Lee Mason and our failure to make the most of our chances that cost us a win.
“Dave Abbott was excellent in his first game for us and adds some width to out attacks.
“Zebras will be very dangerous with strikers like Crosswell and Walsh, so we’ll need to improve defensively and Cian Carey might come into the starting line-up to help tighten things up.
“We’ll also need to start converting more of our opportunities in attack because our build-up play has generally been pretty good, but we’re just not finishing well enough.”
Fifth-placed New Town Eagles have been hit by injuries and player unavailability and may have up to five or six regulars missing for their home clash against second-placed Glenorchy Knights at Clare Street at 2.30pm on Saturday.
Chris Wass, Steve Louden and Mark Page are injured, while Jacob Clamp, Shane Kent and Jamie Vernon are unavailable.
Page may attempt a comeback after light training during the week.
Coach George Krambousanos only had eight first-team players at training on Tuesday and this does not augur well for the game against Knights.
“We did well against Kingborough last week and I was hoping to have the same starting eleven against the Knights this weekend,” said Krambousanos.
“But, certain circumstances have conspired against us. There are injuries and personal circumstances and this means we are not going to be as strong as we should be.
“There might be a couple of surprises and I’ve been looking at a couple of our under-19 players and maybe a reserve player.
“We’re looking forward to this game because our first clash against them was a good game. I mean, they broke away with three or four goals, but we hit back hard and should probably have draw it or even won it.
“They’re hard to beat and hard to play and they’re a hard team, but we’re slowly, slowly getting there and we hope it’ll be a good game.”
Knights will be without defender-cum-midfielder Tony Dzelalija, who has a calf injury sustained at training. He may be out for two or three weeks.
Striker Danny White is back in England because of personal reasons and will miss a second match in a row.
Chris Mrzyk will replace Dzelalija at the back, while Will Roberts and Mynonge Kamba are in line for a starting berth.
“It’ll be a tough game because they’re coming off a win,” said Knights coach, Eamonn Kelly. “They’re not to be taken lightly.
“They’ve been building in confidence week in and week out. The first time we played them, it would have been one of the better games they’ve played this year and, although I didn’t see their game last weekend, we certainly won’t be underestimating them.”
Kelly is suspended from the coaching technical area after being sent from there by the referee last week in the 2-2 draw with Clarence United.
Bottom-side Olympia Warriors travel to Wentworth Park on Saturday evening to take on third-last Clarence United at 6.30pm.
If Olympia lose, they will create a new club record of 10 games without a win.
Olympia will be without injured midfielder Nick Meredith, who has a suspected broken toe, and he will be replaced in the squad by Youssef Mohamad.
“The rest of the squad will remain the same,” said Olympia coach, Chris Hey, who has been suspended for two games by Football Federation Tasmania for inappropriate behaviour and remarks to officials during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Taroona.
“I’ll accept the suspension and take it on the chin.
“Clarence are obviously picking up and starting to play well as a unit and it’s a tough game for anybody over there with their good vocal crowd support.
“We’ll find it tough, but I still feel we are improving every week and playing better football every week, as we have in the last four games.
“We need to keep positive as a team and the results will eventually come, but hopefully not in round 21, when it’s too late.”
Clarence may use Dipendar Kunwar as an impact player in the closing stages against his former club, while Emmanuel Tsakiris, also a former Olympia player, may earn a place on the bench.
15 comments:
Knights to win 4-1,(Smith Yellow Carded minimum)(clay, Amadoo, fielding & Smith to score with McKeown replying from a Pitchy long kick.)Zerbas to win 3-2 (ladic with a couple of assists),
Clarence to win 2-0 (Firery Game Dippa to score a scrappy goal and cripps the other), and
South to distroy the Lions 4-0
The Lions have rode their luck in first round and will be completelty outclassed.. (Kosta, Lo, Roach and Brennan to score)
Zebras 5 Taroona 1
Eagles 0 Knights 4
King 0 South 5
Clar 4 Olympia 0
zebras 3-1
south 2-1
draw 1-1
clarence 2-0
I wonder if all is well at South Hobart land. There has been a steady flow of players leaving of late. Players must be looking at each other wondering if there "mate" is about to jump ship. This must be tough to maintain club loyalty and morale.
Still, they are comfortably on top, but a long way to go. They wont want to drop there guard this weekend, last time they went to lightwood as unbackable favourites, they left with their tail between their legs with a 0-3 result.
melikesfootball should be called "Idon'thaveaclue" South is just fine with the best looking team on the park yet last week. The scores speak for themselves.
and after the gloating went undefeated and turned around an 8 point deficit.
beware the doomsdayers!
Look out for a young fellow by the name of Blayne Hudson turning out for Eagles - hopefully getting his paperwork through in time for this Saturday.
Played top flight in NSW, central midfielder who has the skills and all-round ability as good as any running around in the league at the moment.
melikesfootball - South are in a lot better form than last year so live in the past if you want but I dont expect a boilover on Sunday.
As for your pathetic speculation on more players following Abbott and Ladic out the door, I predict they'll all stick around as they'd prefer to play decent football rather than the defensive dogmeat served up by some of the SPL clubs - maybe even your club?
if he is any good this blayne character why play for eagles?
anon (4:49).... y play for eagles? pitchford and mckeown are good players and they play quite well for eagles, would be good for the club/competition in making them more competitive......just because they're good doesnt mean they want to warm the pine for south....
is anonymous 4.49pm suggesting that all good players must play for the top 2 or 3 teams?
why not play for eagles? why not play for whoever?
anon 3:20, i'm guessing you are south hobart affiliated. Its easy to play attractive attacking football when you have the cattle to do it against lesser teams. its even easier to bag these lesser quality sides for trying to play tacticle, defensive strategies against a superior side. Ken Morton is a one trick pony, this fact was evident in the statewide final last year when clarence scored early goals and Ken had no answer to stop the rot. I gaurantee IF you can score early against south (and its a big if to score twice) they will not come back as there is no plan B. So please stop coming on the blog and having a go at ALL clubs who go out with a game plan against the might of south hobart which may be defensive/counter attacking football. Take it from me, south will struggle to win cup games/finals because when the pressure is on, that coat is a good hiding place.
There are some funny people around. I just made an observation and the South's supporters, at least two anyway, took the bait, hook line and sinker. When you get that defensive about how good things are at Souths, one has to wonder where the truth lies.
I agree with the anon aligned with Eagles, if they have uncovered a talent then good on them, there is no rule that says Souths have a monopoly on talent.
anon 6.33pm
it's "tactical", dude not "tacticle".
South - superior cattle AND superior spellers : )
anon 8:38, superior cattle....yes, superior "spellers" (poor grammer)....yes, but must have got the rest right if thats all you could find wrong with what i said. Maybe even the south boys know ken's weakness!!
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