An incident-packed and exhausting weekend of football

Photo:  Jack Woodland scores the equaliser for Launceston City against South Hobart. [PlessPix] 

My weekend of football began on Friday night with the Southern Championship game between Metro and University at KGV Park.

It was, once again, a perfect night for football.  It was cold, but there was no wind or rain.

The new artificial pitch looked splendid and the new floodlights were a vast improvement on the old ones.

Amazingly, this was about the fifth Friday night game I had attended at KGV Park this season and the weather conditions had been perfect on each occasion.  What a run of luck!

The curtain-raiser was a Southern Championship 1 game between the two clubs.  University ran out 8-0 winners.

Metro’s dismal run continued in the senior game, which they lost 7-1.  They are bottom of the table without a single point in both the seniors and reserves.

I guess they at least scored a goal.

Metro started with Danny Cowen as the spearhead in attack, but once they found themselves three or four goals down, he moved to centre-back to try and stem the tide.  The ploy was largely unsuccessful, although one could ponder what the score might have been had he not moved into defence.

It was basically a training run for University, who are top of the standings.

George Ivanov hit a hat-trick for University, while Declan Brown grabbed a brace.  Lachlan Brown and Jeremy Goddard scored a goal apiece.

Justin Hudson netted Metro’s consolation goal.

Saturday’s fare was the NPL Tasmania clash between South Hobart and Launceston City at South Hobart Oval.

The NPL Under-21 curtain-raiser resulted in a 2-0 win for South Hobart.

In the senior game, Bradley Lakoseljac’s clever back-heeler in the 13^th minute (on the 13^th May) gave South Hobart the lead.

It wasn’t until the 57^th minute that City equalised through Jack Woodland, who headed home a corner.

Photo:  Launceston City's James Hawes picks up the bottle that was thrown onto the pitch as Juan Hampson receives treatment. [PlessPix] 

South Hobart probably had the better chances and slightly more of the play, but they were not able to find a winner.

They should have grabbed the winner in the dying minutes when Jaden Fidra, ironically, a former Launceston City player, missed an open goal.  With the goal at his mercy and a tap-in all that was required, he somehow powered a shot over the crossbar.

The match was memorable for three other incidents.

The first was when South Hobart goalkeeper Nick O’Connell was flattened while going for a high ball into the box.

City’s Toby Anderson was also racing for the cross and he collided with O’Connell, who fell heavily and was stunned and required several minutes of treatment.

Anderson did not emerge unscathed.  He was shown a yellow card and also appeared to be injured, leading to his substitution 8 minutes later.

Photo:  South Hobart's Nick Morton tries to disrobe Launceston City's Alexander Jacobs. [PlessPix] 

The second occurred 5 minutes from the end and involved a horrendous tackle on Nick Morton by Juan Hampson.

Morton retaliated by trying to grab Hampson before being restrained by team-mates.  The South Hobart bench were furious and were on their feet protesting the tackle.

Hampson was fortunate to be shown only the yellow card as a red card would not have surprised anyone.  Morton was also shown the yellow card for his attempt at retaliation.

Hampson was injured in the tackle and required several minutes of treatment, which led to his substitution.

The third incident occurred as players from both sides gathered around the fallen Hampson.  A plastic drink bottle was thrown from the grandstand by a spectator and fortunately didn’t hit anyone.

The South Hobart players, as a group, pointed out the perpetrator in the grandstand and he was marched out of the ground by a match manager, but not before he wanted to fight some spectators standing behind the goal at the canteen end of the ground who had admonished him for his action.

It will be interesting to see what Football Tasmania does in response to this incident.  I’d love to read the referee’s report. 

Photo:  Launceston City's Toby Anderson crashed into South Hobart goalkeeper Nick O'Connell. [PlessPix] 

Devonport Strikers stayed top of the table with a 2-0 win over second-placed Glenorchy Knights at Valley Road.

The marksmen were, almost inevitably, Roberto Garrido and Nick Lanau-Atkinson in a 10-minute period either side of half-time.

Photo:  Devonport's Kieran Mulraney challenges Knights keeper Jackson Gardner. [Photo courtesy of Craig Pitt] 

Clarence Zebras accounted for second-last Riverside Olympic away at Windsor Park with goals by Curtis Miley and Ben Tilley, bith coming in the second half.

On Sunday, Kingborough Lions United downed bottom-side Launceston United 4-0 away at Birch Avenue.

Noah Mies, a Launceston lad, netted twice, with the other goals coming from Matt Hess and Kobe Kemp.

My own spectating on Sunday involved women’s games and started at Wentworth Park, where University thrashed Clarence Zebras 10-0 in the Women’s Southern Championship competition.

The highlight was four goals by Sophie Young.  Mikalha George and Zoe Hinds each grabbed a brace, while Ellisa Bowditch and Lara Manning also got on the scoresheet.

This game was followed by the Women’s Super League game between Clarence Zebras and Taroona.

Taroona were beaten 4-0, with Millie Baric hitting a hat-trick and Elianna Diafokeris netting once for the home side.

On the way home I caught a few minutes of the Women’s Southern Championship game between New Town White Eagles and Olympia Warriors at Clare Street.

Eagles were a goal down by came back to win 4-2.

An interesting, satisfying but exhausting footballing weekend.

Photo:  Knights' captain Eli Luttmer wins a header against Devonport's Fahim Moradi. [Photo courtesy of Craig Pitt] 

 NPL Tasmania (As at 14 May 2023)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Devonport Strikers	7	6	1	0	23	6	19
Glenorchy Knights	7	5	0	2	10	3	15
Launceston City	7	4	1	2	12	9	13
South Hobart	7	3	2	2	15	9	11
Clarence Zebras	7	3	2	2	16	12	11
Kingborough Lions	7	3	0	4	21	17	9
Riverside Olympic	7	1	0	6	4	26	3
Launceston United	7	0	0	7	6	26	0