Glenorchy Knights scored an important 1-0 win over South Hobart in Friday night’s NPL fixture at KGV Park.
The win lifted Knights to the top of the standings for less than 24 hours and dumped South Hobart to fourth place.
The next afternoon, reigning champions Devonport Strikers moved to the top after downing Riverside Olympic 5-1 away at Windsor Park.
Launceston City are third courtesy of their 4-3 win over Kingborough Lions United.
Clarence Zebras trounced Launceston United 6-1 at home at Wentworth Park, but the visitors had some bad fortune, which compounded their defeat.
A magnificent display of goalkeeping by Knights’ Canadian import, Jackson Gardner, explains in part their victory.
His display reminded me of his countryman, Niko Giantsopoulos, who graced the Victory League just over five years ago for Devonport and Launceston City.
It also brought back memories of great Croatia Glenorchy keepers such as Joe Udovicic, Eddie Puclin and Rodney Tattam.
Gardner was unbeatable on Friday night and he made magnificent saves against Tobias Herweynen, fellow Canadian Iskander Van Doorne, and South skipper Nick Morton.
At the end of the game, he was mobbed by his team-mates, who knew they had him to thank for keeping their lead intact.
The Knights had the better of the first half, but after taking the lead early in the second half, South Hobart applied enormous pressure but simply could not find an equaliser because of the heroics of Gardner.
Knights suffered a huge blow when their captain, Eli Luttmer, went off with a hamstring strain early in the second half. He was fortunate to still be on because in the closing stages of the first half, he was catapulted off the pitch and into the fence after a desperate clearance. He appeared to have hyperextended his left elbow and it took some time for him to come back on, and only after treatment from Knights’ trainers and South Hobart’s physio, Matt Lancaster.
Luttmer’s replacement was 17-year-old Michael Kvarantan. Credit must go to the youngster on his performance. He slotted in at centre-back to partner Tyler Harrison and acquitted himself well in a mature performance.
I played with Kvarantan’s grandfather in the 1960s and he would have been proud of his grandson. The elder Kvarantan was nicknamed ‘Valjak’ in Croatian. It means ‘roller’, like in steamroller, and we called him that because, although a bit on the slow side, he had great skills and read the game to perfection, flattening every danger at a steady, relentless pace . He was a vital cog in our midfield. I didn’t see him at Friday’s game, although I’m sure his son, Steven, would have told him all about Michael’s performance.
Sixteen-year-old Rowan Pitt was another hero on the night. He received a pass from Daniel Schmidt in the 58th minute and cut inside from the left before shooting low and hard from 25 metres to beat South keeper Nick O’Connell at the left-hand post.
O’Connell had also made some important saves in the first half, so Pitt certainly earned a feather in his cap for this important goal.
South Hobart would have to be worried after this loss. They host Devonport Strikers this coming Saturday and another loss would be a serious blow to their title aspirations.
Captain and defender Kieran Mulraney scored twice in Devonport’s win over Riverside Olympic (in the 9th and 94th minutes), while Nicholas Lanau-Atkinson (49th), Lachlan Van Neutegem (51st) and Roberto Garrido (61st) also got on the score sheet.
Andre Filipe Teixeira Chamusca netted Riverside’s consolation goal 3 minutes from the end when they were trailing 4-1.
Kingborough Lions United had defender Tom Prince sent off after just 12 minutes against Launceston City when he blocked a shot on the goal-line to deny a certain goal. William Humphrey duly despatched the penalty to put the hosts in front.
Toby Anderson made it 2-0 in the 29th minute and Stefan Tantari 3-0 in the 36th minute.
Former Launceston City star Noah Mies scored either side of half-time to make it 3-2 and the 10-man Lions were back in in the hunt.
Tantari completed his brace 4 minutes from the end to give City a 4-2 lead, but the game was on a knife’s edge for the last few minutes when Kobe Kemp netted in the first minute of stoppage time to make it 4-3.
City held on and their reward was third spot on the standings.
Launceston United continue to prop up the other teams when they succumbed 6-1 away to Clarence Zebras at Wentworth Park, but they missed a penalty, conceded a penalty, and scored two own-goals.
Clarence Zebras were still without Josh Mathie and Pritchard Adjei for this game.
Their Argentine import, Xuan Cappellino gave them the lead with a penalty in the 12th minute after he had been brought down, but United’s Angelo Amato equalised midway through the first half.
Cade Smith restored Clarence Zebras’ lead 2 minutes before the interval.
Aiden Piper’s own-goal in the 68th minute made it 3-1 for the home side, while, incredibly, another own goal in the 75th minute by United’s Will Spicer, destroyed the visitors’ chances.
Late goals by Riley Dillon and Sam Tooze made Clarence Zebras’ 6-1 victory a little more respectable.
NPL Tasmania (As at 15 April 2023)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport Strikers |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
3 |
10 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
9 |
|
Launceston City |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
9 |
|
South Hobart |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
15 |
10 |
6 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
10 |
5 |
|
Launceston United |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
17 |
0 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
17 |
0 |
3 comments:
The striker for knights was saved twice by the south's keeper or hit the crossbar
To answer your question Walter: yes Eli was definitely pointing an accusing finger
Nice that I can still get a mention Walter. I must get along to watch Jackson
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