Sunday, February 15, 2009

South Hobart again the team to beat


David Abbott congratulates Greg Downes on his goal

SOUTH HOBART 6-0 NEW TOWN EAGLES


South Hobart strolled to an easy 6-0 win over New Town Eagles in Group B of the Premier League section of the Summer Cup competition at South Hobart on Saturday.

Three goals in each half did the trick and Eagles were never in the hunt.

South Hobart were missing Billy Gasparinatos, Hugh Ludford, Julius Ross and Igor, while Eagles had Andrew Savage in goal in place of the injured Nathan Pitchford.

South employed a 4-2-3-1 system, with David Abbott the lone striker up front.

Abbott weighed in with two goals - the first and the last.

Greg Downes, Liam Scott and Jonathon Ladic netted a goal apiece, while the remaining goal was an own-goal by Ben Whitehall.

Eagles were disappointing and coach George Krambousanos has a lot of work to do if the side is to avoid relegation.

They showed little imagination, poor technique and no tactical nous at all, despite the presence of all those young promising players from the end of last season when the team was beginning to click.

Cormac Collins was back after studying in the north, while new signing Jacob Kavanagh started in attack.

Alex Gordon, signed from South Hobart, was not fully fit and started on the bench, as did Jamie Vernon and Matthew Rybak.

South Hobart goalkeeper Marl Moncur had a very quiet afternoon and was never extended.

Abbott opened the scoring with a blistering volley from the edge of the box in the 6th minute.

On the quarter-hour, Gary Upton crossed from the right towards the far post. The ball was knocked back across goal and Whitehall, under pressure from a couple of South players, inadvertently forced the ball into his own net.

In the 31st minute, Downes attacked down the right and beat Savage with a low drive to make it 3-0 at the interval.

Ladic shot narrowly wide five minutes after the resumption as South continued to dominate the game.

Richard Delara showed some clever touches for Eagles and worked hard all over the pitch, but he could not influence the course of the match on his own.

Midway through the half, Scott made it 4-0, while eight minutes from the end, a neat build-up involving Scott and Shae Hickey allowed Ladic to volley home the fifth.

Three minutes from the end, Ladic played Abbott through and he lobbed the advancing goalkeeper to make it 6-0.

* * * * *

  • South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“We played well. Once we get the ball down and the passing going and the triangles and the movement, it’s good.

“And, we’re starting to get a lot more penetration this year than last year with people coming from behind.

“So, I’m quite happy with that performance.

“Six-nil to start with, in a one-hour game of 30-minute halves, is a good result for us.”

  • New Town Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, said:

“It shows that South are way ahead of probably any team in the State.

“They’ve only had about three weeks off since last year, so they’ve been working right through.

“It’s a long year and we’ve got a bit of work to do.

“It’s good to play a team in their category rather than an easier team and beat them and think that we are champions.”

* * * * *

South Hobart: Mocur, Abbott, Beecroft, D Brown, M Brown, Cooper, Downes, Hickey, Ladic, Scott, Upton [Substitutes: Kruijver, Pennicott, Di Falco]

Booked: Abbott

Goals: Abbott 6, 57, Whitehall 15 og, Downes 31, Scott 48, Ladic 52

New Town Eagles: A Savage, Clark, Collins, Delara, Kavanagh, A Leszczynski, Malakoff, McKeown, Page, Wass, Whitehall [Substitutes: Gordon, Pope, Rybak, Vernon]

Ref: K Barker

Att: 300

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Walter , great to wake up from afar , other -side of the Oatlands wall , and read your concise in depth match reports - I only wish we had someone in the North who was half as good and as dedicated to Football as you appear to be.
However I am starting to wonder do you have a part time position as publicist for South Hobart and Morton – or are they that good you need to keep on telling everybody how good they are? Will have another look today at the Hudson – Olympic poor last week --- very .
Also great to get the coaches comments
– Krambo – he will end up alongside of George Bush
“It’s good to play a team in their category rather than an easier team and beat them and think that we are champions.”
Long as he is only thinking !!
Farrell Shaw
"I think both teams are going to go away and think about defensive duties”
One hopes they do more than think – perhaps some coaching may assist ....
Andrew Brown - who couldn’t resist having a go at a selector or two ;
"I thought it was a fantastic effort when you consider there were three players over 19 years of age and no state players and no representative players.
Scott Gallagher on his teams preparation for the 1st game and 2-0 loss ;
"We were expecting that. The boys tried their best but couldn't score.”
Thanks please all keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Dear 'North of Oatlands'

Thanks for your positive comments about the coverage.

Just to clarify things, no, I am not a publicist for Morton and South Hobart.

In past years, I have been accused of being a New Town Eagles fan and a Zebras fan.

The truth is that I give praise where it's due, and the top sides tend to get the praise. That was the case when Eagles were dominant, and it was the case when Zebras were dominant. At this time, South Hobart are dominant. All these teams have their eras of dominance and then their periods of decline.

The other factor is that South Hobart and Morton have a well-oiled publicity machine and when they give me information, I analyse it and use what is relevant. There si always plenty of it. Few other teams bother to provide information. I have to ring them, and even when I do, they often cannot tell me much. Some clubs and coaches cannot even tell me the surname of players of interest. I had to go to FFT this week to check on some names!

I love interviewing the coaches after the game. I mean, they are the ones who call the shots and my opinion may not be worth a cracker. They are involved and so their opinions count. I'm sure some of them wish they'd had time to think about what they were going to say before they said it, but I suppose they're not used to doing interviews straight after a game.

Anonymous said...

My observation is that Walter will support those that provide him the info - keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

No offence meant Walter for my tongue in Cheek comments , you don't have to justify to me especially !
Maybe some of the other clubs /coaches in the South will also become well oiled machines, its not as it is costing them or the club anything !!
Please keep coaches interviews coming !!
Any idea if any other coaches going to coaches conferences ? I went to FFA site and following are presenting
Mr Pim Verbeek Head Coach, Qantas Socceroos
Mr Michel Hordijk Coach, FC Utrecht, Holland
Mr Mauricio Marques Technical Consultant, Brazilian Football Federation
Mr Erich Rutemoller Director of Coaching, German Football Federation
Mr Paul Payne NSCAA Vice President of Education and Senior National Academy Staff Coach
Mr Tom Sermanni Head Coach, Westfield Matildas
Mr DarrenBurgess Conditioning Coach, Qantas Socceroos
Mr Alistair Edwards FFA Development and High Performance Consultant
Mr Tony Franken Goalkeeping Coach, Qantas Socceroos
Mr Han Berger FFA Technical Director
Mr Jan Versleijen Head Coach, Qantas Young Socceroos and Australian Institute of Sport Men's Football Program
Mr Ossy Ardiles 63 caps for Argentina's national team, including the victorious World Cup winning squad of 1978

sure looks a great opportunity , wonder if FFT are sending coaches?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, 'North of Oatlands". I probably am a little bit too sensitive at times. I take things much too seriously.

That's quite an impressive line-up for the FFA coaching conference. Obviously, Ossie Ardiles didn't get the job at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a job he was being linked with!

The only locals I know are attending are Ken Morton and Dean May (TIS). There may be others.

John Smith said...

Great to see the broad coverage to the game. Pity the 'Mercury' isn't aware of the following Football has. Have you tried submitting an article on the Premier League similar to the articles that the 'Mercury' prints at the start of cricket or AFL discussing the changes and prognosis for each club?
I came along Saturday and caught the Zebras v Olympic and the first half and about 15 minutes of the second half of NTE v SH. Though I generally agree with your comments on the games I did notice one NTE player who did seem to have some skill and nous. A midfielder playing in front of the back three. He semed to be the only one prepared to chase, tackle and track back.I did ask who he is but no one around me knew. Can't see a player like that staying if NTE don't improve.

Anonymous said...

that player would probably be Richard Delara.

english i believe, good player but totally over run by south. had no support.

Anonymous said...

They have plenty of good players. They just didnt perform as a team at all on Saturday. That is one thing a side who move the ball like South will punish you for. Anyone know what the largest summer cup victory is?

John Smith said...

Sorry,Anonymous. I didn't mean Delara, I've seen a few years ago. He did have a few good touches but tended to run into cul-de-sacs rather than lay the ball off and keep moving. Don't recall seeing him track back much, either. The one I'm talking about has a full head of hair and is about 16-17 y.o.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Malakoff if its the young lad who is smallest player on the pitch. Played well last year as well.