Devonport Strikers, South Hobart, Clarence Zebras and Hobart United are in the semi-finals of the Lakoseljac Cup after winning their quarterfinal ties on the weekend.
Hobart United are the only second-tier side left and they have done well in winning their two previous games away from home.
On Saturday, they overcame NPL opponents Riverside Olympic 1-0 in Launceston through a goal by Abel Berhane in the 54th minute.
United also missed twice-taken penalty kicks.
The match started at the earlier than usual time of noon so United travelled to Launceston on Friday and stayed overnight so that they would be fresh for the game. The preparation obviously worked and was worth the expense. They are now full of confidence and must have a chance of reaching the final. The semi-final draw will be conducted on Wednesday.
Clarence Zebras beat Launceston City 2-1 for the second time in a week, the first time being in last week’s league match.
City were at home this time in the cup quarterfinal at Buckby Motors Park and Mason Smith gave them the lead after 16 minutes.
Riley Dillon equalised 4 minutes later, while Xuan Cappellino hit the winner 3 minutes into the second half.
Clarence Zebras’ fortunes seem to be on the rise and will be a formidable opponent in the semi-finals.
Import Pritchard Adjei was back from injury and was superb in defence for Clarence Zebras.
Devonport Strikers, the cup holders, accounted for Kingborough Lions United 2-1 away at KGV Park.
Roberto Garrido opened the scoring from Ali Dulleh’s pass in the 24th minute, while Dulleh hit the second 3 minutes before the break.
Dulleh’s inclusion was controversial as he had been sent off the previous week in the league win over South Hobart.
There has been debate about whether a league send-off excludes a player from the next game even if it is a cup game, or whether the player is suspended only for the next league match. In this case, the referee apparently rescinded the red card a few days later and so Dulleh was free to play.
Kingborough pulled back a goal through a penalty 5 minutes form time, but Devonport held on for the win.
Kingborough surprisingly took off Declan Taylor with 20 minutes left as he had been one of their most dangerous players and had hit the crossbar. They brought on Toby Moss with 10 minutes remaining and he was a constant source of danger down the right flank, which made one wonder why he had not come on earlier.
Kingborough coach, Alfred Hess, was reticent in commenting on the match.
“I’ll have to reflect on it later,” Hess said: “It’s all pretty raw at the moment.
“We came home a bit strong but it was not to be for us.”
Hess agreed that his side played better in the second half and carried out their strategies better than in the first half.
Devonport coach Tom Ballantyne was pleased to get through to the semi-finals.
“First half, I thought we were really good,” Ballantyne said. “We probably should have had a couple more in the first half as I thought we dealt with their press very well and we played through them and created good opportunities.
“In the second half we came out and started too slowly and we still have probably three really good opportunities.
“We created a couple of good opportunities for Robbie [Garrido] and then after that we kind of just let it drift.
“We took our foot off the gas and let it drift.
“They scored a penalty and I can’t for the life of me work out what it was for. It could have been a foul for us; then it could have been a penalty for them; and then there was a foul on the goalkeeper.
“I’ll have to watch it back on the replay and see what it’s been given for. And even then, after the penalty, we should have scored another one.
“The important things is we are through and the cup is still in our trophy cabinet and we’ll take that from here.”
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On Sunday, Glenorchy Knights’ world came crashing down around them when they were crushed 7-2 by South Hobart at South Hobart Oval.
All the pieces came together at last for South Hobart, who led 3-0 midway through the first half and 4-1 at the interval.
Iskander Van Doorne, Nick Morton and Sam Berezansky all scored braces, while Jackson Dent netted once.
Van Doorne opened the scoring after just 3 minutes when Knights failed to deal with a corner, and Nick Morton lobbed goalkeeper Jackson Gardner in the 12th minute to make it 2-0.
Dent chipped the third, again over the keeper from the right, to make it 3-0 in the 22nd minute and effectively end the contest.
Daniel Sagno reduced the arrears with a penalty in the 35th minute, but Knights were clearly shell-shocked and struggling.
Van Doorne made it 5-1 a minute after the resumption and Berezansky added South’s sixth in the 58th minute.
Kyle Vincent netted Knights’ second on the hour after Lucas Dzalakowski’s chip against the right-hand post deflected into the path of Vincent on the left of the box.
Morton rounded off the victory in the 81st minute with his second goal of the match.
Knights were humiliated after some narrow league victories recently, including a 1-0 win over South Hobart.
Knights had their goalkeeper, Jackson Gardner to thank for their recent league wins, but he was unable to save them this time.
Photo: South Hobart's Sam Berezansky (left) tangles with Glenorchy Knights' Nick Mearns, [PlessPix]
5 comments:
Knights have huge issues. Depth for starters . Even their best 11 is not the greatest and when there are injuries, level drops very quickly.
There seem to be many players missing from last year. Defensively they were horrible.
Going forward lacked polish.
Eli was a huge loss for them but he is not worth 6 or seven goals .
Knights to struggle for rest of the season.
Kingborough were horrible on Saturday. Devonport should have had another 2 or three before half time. Who was marking Dulleh ? I think Kingborough didn't know his red card was rescinded
and that he was actually playing. He had a field day.
They were slightly better second half , but only slightly and only after Devonport made a couple of substitutions early into the second half.
Great result for south. One of those days where all the half chances they had from previous weeks finally went in & attackers looked dangerous. Need to start winning more 1'st and second balls in midfield & in the air.
#6 needs to return to CB. Arguably the best in the state when played there, tall, good passing range & plays the ball forwards instead of backwards all the time.
Time to carry this momentum into the league.
Well done.
Dave.
Can the public access the document relating to the withdrawal of the red card which allowed Dulleh to play?
Anon 4.14.
It’s no-one else’s business. Grow up .
"We came home strong" against a team that had stopped attacking and was content with the lead. Once again boring uneffective long ball from Kingborough. Pretty poor and no where near the title or cup.
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