Sunday, May 3, 2009

Knights back to winning ways after major revamp








Photos (Top to Bottom): Jackson Marsh (No. 6) is congratulated by his Knights team-mates after equalising; Eagles' Adam McKeown evades Knights' Brodie Green; Knights keeper Alex Tatnell beats Mckeown to the ball; Eagles keeper Michael Soszynski wonders what happened as the Knights take the lead; Amadu Koroma (No. 7) puts the Knights ahead; Eagles' Andrew Clark had two great chances near the end; Knights keeper Alex Tatnell had a great game; Eagles' Jacob Kavanagh flies through the air watched by Jacob Malakoff.


Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League, Clare Street, Saturday, 2 May 2009

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New Town Eagles 1 (McKeown 19)
Glenorchy Knights 3 (Marsh 69, Koroma 73, 85)

HT: 1-0 Att: 120 Ref: C Phillips
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New Town Eagles: Soszynski - Grabek, Wass, Savage (Ashwood 75), Page - Clark, Malakoff, Kent (Gordon 66), Kavanagh (Vernon 83) - Leszczynski, McKeown [Substitute not used: Wilson] [Coach: G Krambousanos]

Glenorchy Knights: Tatnell - Wiggins, Holmes, Green, Lawler (Dzelalija 75) - Clay, Smith, Marsh, Roberts (Kamba 66) - Sherman Koroma [Substitutes not used: Fielding, Peter] [Coaches: J Fielding, N Harrison]
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Glenorchy Knights coach, Eamonn Kelly, was in Newcastle, New South Wales, attending a family function and Josh Fielding and Nick Harrison were in charge of the team.

They rang the changes and it paid off.

Out went Anthony Grundy to the reserves, and Fielding, Tony Dzelalija and Ben Peter on the bench.

Goalkeeper Alex Tatnell had a superb game, saving brilliantly from former team-mate Shane Kent and Andrew Clark in the second half.

The Knights had far more chances than the home side and should have led at half-time instead of trailing to Adam McKeown’s excellent goal.

It took them until the 69th minute to equalise and then two more goals in the final 17 minutes did the trick.

The Knights could have taken the lead after only two minutes following a Alex Holmes free-kick. Eagles failed to clear, but Amadu Koroma somehow slid the ball wide of the goal.

In the 8th minute, Jade Clay’s right-wing cross was headed straight at goalkeeper Michael Soszynski by Holmes.

Clay went on to have another fine game, while Holmes spent a lot of time attacking from his central defender role.

In the 19th minute, Alex Leszczynski’s pass put McKeown through in the inside-left channel and he scored with a marvellous shot that went in off the far right-hand post.

The Knights then had two good chances as the half drew to a close.

In the 34th minute, Tom Sherman fired wide from Koroma’s pass, while in the 40th minute, Sherman clipped the ball forward from the left and Koroma beat Soszynski to the ball on the side of the box and chipped it into the centre, only to see Jackson Marsh blaze high over the unprotected goal.

Nine minutes after the resumption, Soszynski produced a miraculous save against Sherman, but the keeper knew little about it. Koroma chipped the ball into the box from the left and Sherman hit the ball hard from inside the 6-yard box, only to see it deflect off Soszynski’s outstretched arm and loop over the bar.

Meanwhile, Tatnell, at the other end, did very well to turn a Shane Kent pile-driver wide for a corner.

The equaliser came in the 69th minute when Koroma again threw off his marker on the left and curled the ball inside for Marsh to score from close range.

Four minutes later, the Knights were in front. Mynonge Kamba released Clay down the right and his cross was met at the near post by Koroma, who flicked it into the net past a static Soszynski.

Koroma wheeled away from goal and removed his shirt and twirled it above his head, prompting Mr Phillips to show him a yellow card.

In the 77th minute, the fast and elusive Clay earned a corner for the Knights, from which Holmes headed over the bar.

With 5 minutes remaining, Sherman gained possession on the left and outwitted a defender before crossing the ball to the near post, where the alert Koroma beat Soszynski and stabbed the ball home from close range to make it 3-1 for the visitors.

Koroma’s celebration this time was to crawl through the Forestry Tasmania pop-up display behind and to the side of the goal, but Mr Phillips decided to take no action.

Eagles had two good chances in the closing minutes. In the 87th minute, Tatnell acrobatically turned Clark’s volley wide, while in the last minute, Clark was guilty of an incredible miss, striking the crossbar from inside the 6-yard box.

A draw at that stage would have been an injustice to the Knights.

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  • New Town Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, said:

“I just don’t think we were on our game today.

“You can’t take anything away from the Knights. Amadu, their number 7, brilliant, with two goals. The goalkeeper, absolutely unbelievable.

“I didn’t think that one goal was enough.

“We did have a chat at half-time and we were trying to score a quick goal, but it just didn’t happen.

“Credit to the Knights. They did very well. They deserved their win.

“We have to go back again and start again.”

  • Glenorchy Knights coach, Josh Fielding, said:

“I was very happy with the boys we put out today.

“We took out myself, Ben Peter, Anthony Grundy and Tony Dzelalija, which is over 1,500 games of senior soccer and out the young boys out and they performed and thoroughly deserved the result.

“We went in at half-time one nil down, but the boys stayed positive to themselves and I thought we thoroughly deserved it in the end.”

  • Glenorchy Knights assistant coach, Nick Harrison, said:

“I think probably in the end we got what we deserved.

“First half, they’ve had the one chance, and a great strike, to be fair.

“I’m sure our possession was way up in the 80 per cent, and we took our chances in the second half. That’s the difference.

“You’ve got to score goals to win games. I think we thoroughly deserved it and we got what we deserved.”
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STATISTICS

NEW TOWN EAGLES GLENORCHY KNIGHTS
8 Goal Attempts 21
5 Shots on Target 9
5 Corners 5
11 Fouls Committed 6
1 Off-Sides 1
3 (Wass 61, Page 74, Gordon 83) Yellow Cards 2 (Marsh 71, Koroma 73)
0 Red Cards 0

New Town Eagles:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Kavanagh 1 1
McKeown 1 1
Kent 2 1
Leszczynski 2 0
Clark 2 2

Glenorchy Knights:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Koroma 4 3
Holmes 2 1
Smith 5 1
Sherman 4 2
Marsh 3 1
Wiggins 1 0
Clay 1 1
Kamba 1 0

5 comments:

Brad said...

How bad is Knights new strip?? OMG what were they thinking??

Sir Mix a Lot said...

How good was Koroma's near post backheel flick for the second goal??
OMG it was fantastic, especially for him against his old team.
McKeown's goal was a belter also, not much Tatnell could do.
The move to bring on Kamba paid huge dividends, he seemed to spark things and brought other players into the game.
Big test for Knights next two weeks playing South in consecutive games. Haven't been competitive against the current top 3, needs to be rectified if Knights want to be contenders and not pretenders.

The Phoenix said...

We have been harping on about the players at Knights just maybe it is the coach that is the issue . well done to fish and the boys .

Aussie Bob said...

Coulb be onto somthing there benchie... It's always doom and gloom from Kelly and his comments, Makes you wonder how the players get treated on the track and if some more positive ways could influence results instead of the usual blame game and negativity.

Dippastar said...

well done knights, nice victory. 3 good goals.wow 4th place is going to be something to compete for this year.