South Hobart qualified for the NPL Southern Tasmania Summer Cup Final despite losing 2-1 to Kingborough Lions United at KGV Park last night.
Clarence
Zebras, the only team that could have pipped them for a place in the final,
lost 2-1 to Glenorchy Knights in last night’s other fixture and gifted South
Hobart a place in the final.
South
Hobart began well against the Lions and made all the early running.
Centre-forward
Sam Tooze put South Hobart ahead in the 17th minute when he ran
through the middle before unleashing a superb drive from 20 metres that gave
Kingborough keeper Lee Mackie no chance.
Photo: Kingborough's Luke Bighin (No.4) was taking no prisoners with his tackles last night [PlessPix]
South
created several more chances, but resolute defending by Danny Cowen and keeper
Mackie prevented them from increasing their lead.
Kingborough
gradually got back into the game and two goals in the second half by Shane
Cartwright tipped the balance in their favour.
Cartwright
headed home Chris Downes’s corner from the left in the 55th minute
to make it 1-1.
Kingborough
then squandered a great chance to hit the front when Tae Evans handled the ball
after Cartwright’s attempted pass and earned a penalty in the 61st
minute. Downes struck his spot-kick high
over the bar.
Photo: South Hobart's Reilly Morton brings down Kingborugh's Kenneth Trac [PlessPix]
Javier
Verdu Sanchez missed a good chance for Kingborough in the 68th
minute when he lofted his effort over the bar from close range but a difficult
angle.
Eight
minutes from the end, a long free-kick from deep in Kingborough’s half found
the unmarked Cartwright, who cleverly lobbed the ball over South Hobart’s stranded
keeper, Cahse Webert, for the winning goal.
Kingborough
almost snatched a third goal in the final minute, but Webert blocked a shot
from Moses Khasif in a one-on-one situation.
Photo: The Kingborough Lions United starting XI [PlessPix]
Photo: South Hobart's starting XI [PlessPix]
Clarence
Zebras fell behind to a Nick Naden goal in the 25th minute. Knights’ midfielder Alex Bellini fed Naden on
the right and he seemed to take forever to line up his shot, but beat Nathan Reid
to give his side the lead.
Eleven
minutes after the resumption, Dwayne Walsh volleyed a terrific goal when
Knights failed to clear a corner and made it 1-1.
Photo: Knights' skipper Tyler Harrison clears ahead of Clarence Zebras' Luke Huigsloot [PlessPix]
The
Knights winner came 15 minutes from the end when Ryan Backhouse race down the
left and cut the ball back inside to Mathew Nowicki. Reid saved Nowicki’s first shot, but he
hammered home the rebound to give Knights a 2-1 win.
With
coach David Smith away in the UK, Clarence Zebras had assistant Sergio Pace in
charge.
The
final between Olympia Warriors and South Hobart will be played next Saturday.
Photo: Clarence Zebras' Adam McKeown (right) tries to cut out a pass by Knights' captain Tyler Harrison [PlessPix]
1 comment:
I thought that both the Knights and Zebras have gradually improved and it was actually a pretty good game to watch although probably a bit to physical for a pre season but what the heck . It’s obvious the Knights need to get used to the new players and in time will be a real force this year despite all the yelling about the size of the payroll. Probably could have been a different result had the Zebras brought on the fleet footed young Hatcher a bit earlier to close down Backhouse as he did who made an immediate impact on the game supplying Nowicki the winner.There were some tired legs out there for the Zebras but you can assume fitness would still be a problem for a lot in the competition at this early stage , A good night of football
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