Photo: Alex Walter (on the ground) opens the scoring for South Hobart against the Lions. [PlessPix]
Devonport City, Glenorchy Knights and South Hobart made positive starts to the 2024 NPL Tasmania season.
Devonport, the reigning champions, downed Clarence Zebras 3-0 at home at Valley Road.
An opener by Brody Denehy and two penalties by Riku Ichimura withing 5 minutes of each other late in the game did the damage.
The visitors didn’t help their cause when they were awarded a spot-kick which was squandered by Kyle Vincent.
Photo: Kingborough's Kobe Kemp (left) prepares for a challenge by South Hobart's Jacob Lancaster. [PlessPix]
Glenorchy Knights smashed Launceston United 9-0 away at Birch Avenue.
Anthony Mamic, Stefan Cordwell and Riley Dillon all scored braces, with the remaining goals coming from Jack Glover, Joshua Redfearn and Thomas Walpole.
It’s not the start the Launceston outfit wanted, of course, and there may be bleak times ahead for them.
Kingborough Lions United have lost two key players in Declan Taylor, who has moved to Taroona, and Jaeden Mercure, who is reportedly injured.
They played Eisa Azizi in goal in preference to Masatoshi Kawano in goal.
Photo: Kingborough;s Keenan Douce (left) tangles with South Hobart's Tobias Herweynen. [PlessPix]
Alex Walter fired South Hobart in front after 35 minutes following a pass from Adam Gorrie, while Samuel Berezansky made it 2-0 three minutes later from Bradley Lakoseljac’s pass.
Former South Hobart player and now captain of Kingborough, Kobe Kemp, reduced the arrears in the 62nd minute, but Austin Yost curled home a fine shot in the 72nd minute to ensure the visitors of the three points.
Photo: South Hobart's Harrison Oates has a shot at goal against Kingborough. [PlessPix]
The opening game of the round on Friday night was not completed.
The Riverside Olympic versus Launceston City derby was halted in the 27th minute when Riverside’s Will Fleming sustained a broken leg in a tackle with a City opponent, who was shown the red card
It was 1-1 at that stage after a penalty by Riverside’s Gediminas Krusa had been cancelled out by a spot-kick by City’s Will Humphrey.
Fleming managed to crawl to the side-line but the pain then set in and he was in agony for the next half-hour while awaiting an ambulance.
The referee abandoned the game after half an hour of waiting and it will have to be replayed at a later date.
Several issues arose out of this situation.
Obviously, there cannot be a doctor at every game so it is important that fully qualified first-aid people are on the bench for all clubs.
I cannot say why the player was not stretchered away to the warmth of a dressing room while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance. Perhaps no one was qualified enough to move the player given the nature of the injury.
The audio on the live stream should have been turned off, too, as it was disconcerting to hear the cries of the injured player for some significant time after the injury.
I don’t know why the referee didn’t send the two teams to the dressing rooms when it became clear there would be a lengthy delay in the arrival of the ambulance.
A sorry way to start the NPL season. I do hope Fleming makes a complete recovery from this nasty injury.