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GLENORCHY KNIGHTS V SOUTH HOBART
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KGV Park, 8pm, Friday, 15 May
Fifth-placed Glenorchy Knights will have coach Eamonn Kelly back at the helm after a two-game absence for the match against second-placed South Hobart.
The Knights won both their games during Kelly’s absence.
Corey Smith is suspended after accumulating five yellow cards and will miss the match.
Alex Tatnell retains his place in goal, while Tony Dzelalija will be missing after announcing his retirement from Premier League football last weekend following the Knights’ 1-0 win over South Hobart in the Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy match.
“The team will virtually be the same as what it was last week,” said Kelly. “I won’t be changing it around too much.
“Tony Dzelalija’s retirement is not unexpected. He’s of the same opinion of everyone else at the club, namely, if you want the club to go ahead, you’ve got to blood these young kids.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing.
“We’re a young team and a new team compared to what we’ve had at Knights for years and years and years.
“We’ve always said from day one at the start of this season that it’s a building year for us.
“The only thing is, we need to get consistency. This is what we’ve emphasises with them for the last month. We’ve just got to have consistency.
“We’re the same as any other club. We’ve had our fair share of injuries and people that have been suspended.
“But, we’ll soldier on and take each week as it comes.
“Our ambition was to blood a bit of youth, and that’s what we’ve done, especially in the last month.
“We’ve now got four players in there from the reserves and the under-19s that we’ve never had before, and they’ve replaced the Grundys, the Benny Peters and the Tony Dzelalijas of this world.
“As much as they’ve been great ambassadors and servants to the club, the time is upon us for a change.
“We have to think of the future, and the future is the youth, and that’s why we made the decision we did three weeks ago to make a few changes and so far it’s worked.
“I mean, it will backfire. There will be a down-side to it. It’s just when the down-side comes. We have to be prepared for it.
“While these kids keep doing what they’re doing, and representing themselves and the club to the extent of what they’re doing, until they put a foot wrong, they’ll be in there every week.”
Kelly said the Knights were expecting a Brazilian player to arrive in a couple of weeks and a second Brazilian player to be here by the start of June.
South Hobart will have Mark Moncur in goal in place of Sam Kruijver, who dislocated a shoulder last week against the Knights.
Kruijver will be out for between six and eight weeks.
Central defender Josh Heerey has a strained hamstring but may be fit to play if the treatment he is undergoing is effective.
Shae Hickey returns to the squad and will probably start.
Bart Beecroft is still a few weeks away and South Hobart are exploring the possibility of him wearing a face mask when he returns.
South Hobart may have lost the cup game to Knights last weekend, but they won the first league encounter between the sides this year 4-0 and should win this game.
Prediction: South Hobart
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TILFORD ZEBRAS V HOBART OLYMPIC
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KGV Park, 4pm, Saturday, 15 May
League-leaders Tilford Zebras will have Henry Fagg and Paul Cairns back for this traditional derby against second-last Hobart Olympic.
The Zebras are playing the best soccer in the competition and have a whole host of potential goalscorers, as well as plenty of quality players on the bench.
Zebras coach, Nick Lapolla, is not under-estimating Olympic’s threat.
“They pull out a bit extra against us and league position doesn’t always mean anything in these games,” said Lapolla.
Olympic have huge problems, both in terms of morale and playing ability, and even though they should be fired up for this traditional derby, spirit alone will not be good enough to win.
Their chances may be improved slightly if goalkeeper Dmitri Nester and midfielder Chris Tsakiris return to the side, but Lincoln Conquest is suspended.
Prediction: Tilford Zebras
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CLARENCE UNITED V UNIVERSITY
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Wentworth Park, 6.30pm, Saturday, 16 May
Third-placed Clarence United could move into second place on the Premier League ladder if they beat bottom-side University.
Clarence will miss midfielders Julian McMahon and Ben Hamlett, who both have leg injuries.
Goalkeeper Michael Moschogianis and midfielders Sam Cannamela, Chris Hunt and Rowan Heggie did not train on Tuesday after picking up niggling injuries in last weekend’s 2-0 away win over Devonport City in the State-wide Cup.
Defender Toby Ling and midfielder and captain Ben Parker will return to the side, while Matthew Chapman and Brendan Garth may also get a run if the injured players do not recover.
University may be getting their act together at last after earning a point against the high-flying South Hobart two weeks ago and then progressing to the quarterfinals of the State-wide Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over New Town Eagles last weekend.
Prediction: Clarence United
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NEW TOWN EAGLES V KINGBOROUGH LIONS UNITED
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Clare Street, 2.30pm, Sunday, 17 May
Sixth-placed New Town Eagles welcome fourth-placed Kingborough Lions United to Clare Street in what is an important game for both sides.
A win for Eagles would move them further away from the two bottom sides, while a Lions victory would keep them in touch with the leaders and could even put them third.
Andrew Clark, Mark Page, Chris Wass, Jamie Vernon, Alex Leszczynski and Wade Savage missed Eagles’ training session on Tuesday because of colds and injuries, but all are expected to be fit in time for the game on Sunday.
Eagles will have goalkeeper Michael Soszynski back from suspension and after he also missed the State-wide Cup match against University because of work commitments.
“I will try a different formation and there’ll be a couple of new faces in the starting line-up,” said Eagles coach, George Krambousanos.
“There’s no way the score will be 6-3 for Kingborough this time round.
“They’re always a good challenge, but things will be different to the first-round meeting with them.”
The Lions have suffered from some poor goalkeeping in recent games and if they can get this aspect of their game right, they should be in with a real chance.
They will still be without the suspended Brett Andrews, while Marcello Marchioli is also unavailable.
Striker Tom McDonald is under an injury cloud but could play.
Andrew Kerr and Trent Pearce are the likely replacements.
Prediction: Kingborough Lions United
11 comments:
Bit bloody rich of Kelly to start taking credit for giving the young blokes ago . It didn't happen three weeks ago it happened two weeks when Kelly was away. Not just the players they need to change at Knights !! South to win
Zebras on form and should win comfortably .
Not an easy game for Clarence but should still see them win the points at home, Sammy Mac's first game against his old "club".
The last game is a hard one just when you think Eagles have invented a new way to lose they get up and the same for the Lions , so the fence seems safe here , a draw me thinks .
Good luck to all.
gee benchy a bit harsh for my boys. We've lost only 2 games in the league, one against the Zebras in red hot form and then one against the Knights when we played for 75 minutes with 10 men, still scoring 3 goals in the second half. I think we may have invented new ways to concede goals in some games, but we have not lost too many. Eagles have lost 5 games, so I wouldn't really like to be put in the same basket.
Benchie, if you were given a dollar for every shot you have taken at Kelly on Walter's Blog you would be quite wealthy. Is there a personal vendetta there we should know about, maybe regarding coaching positions over recent times?
For the record Kelly announced changes to the starting lineup prior to going away. Credit to the players and stand in coaches for getting the results last few weeks, still long way to go and as they say a week is a long time in football.
great to see lincon conquest back after such a life threatening illness. good to see all the well wishes he recieved and that no-one thought anything bad had happened to him-
heard swap immenint between knights/eagles, peters for wass. neither happy
Sorry Charlie if you think it harsh , you have probably summed it up better than me. Sir Mix a lot , no vendetta , no lost coaching oppertunites, just calling it how I and others I know in the game see it thats all. Funny how the changes were not made sooner.Ah well not my problem and poor too !!!
eightball totally agree with you great to see lincon conquest back in the game he was a star for knights in there to recent championships, interesting comments about peters and wass but i could see this happening, i have also heard chris sanita is moving back to tas
Have to say that is interesting about about the possible moves of peters and wass. Wass would be a handy pick-up for knights. peters would be quite hot property for other clubs. Not many keepers going around of his standard, would start in front of at least 6 keepers in other teams. Both have family involvement with thier clubs be interesting to see what happens...
It didn't stop ben leaving Clarence to go play seniors at knights... His Dad was still involved on the eastern shore. Is a shame to see one of the best keepers going around playing reserves. Same as Frank playing reserve at zebras, if not the most dominant keeper of the past.
Wonder if Kenny will be after peters number soon... along with a few others. Kelly should tread carefully if the injury prone tatnell does go down and there no one to back him up.
wass has carried this team for a couple of years. maybe he has had enough. he is a monster of the comp and would walk into any side
for some reasons wass has his critics, but it should be said he is amonster of the comp not many going round like him anymore. has been very underrated around the league for many years, prob because of the standard of players around him.
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