Monday, May 25, 2009

Tilford Zebras score last-gasp winner against Clarence

Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League, Wentworth Park, Saturday, 23 May 2009
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Clarence United 3 (Cripps 2, 9, 69)
Tilford Zebras 4 (Crosswell 29, 45+4, Walsh 40, Brazendale 90+4)

HT: 2-2 Att: 115 Ref: S Collins
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Clarence United: Moschogianis (Sweetten 73) - J Huigsloot, Lewis, S McIntyre, Togill (Stevens 68) - Hunt, Ling (McMahon 57), Parker, Cannamela - Barron, Cripps [Substitute not used: Hamlett] [Coach: A Brown]

Tilford Zebras: Kaden - Pace, Telega, Smith, Fagg - Brazendale, Cairns, Self, Welch - Walsh, Crosswell [Substitutes not used: Thorpe, F Lapolla, Hall, Mainella] [Coach: N Lapolla]
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Clarence United went for Zebras’ throats from the outset and rocked the league-leaders with two goals in the opening 9 minutes.

They had a third ruled out for off-side. If that one had counted, one would wonder if the Zebras could have come back.

As it was, the Zebras were reeling, but they maintained their faith in their own abilities and slowly but gradually worked their way back into the game.

Clarence might have snatched a late winner but were denied by the woodwork.

Given such reprieves, the Zebras never look back and they hit the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Clarence goalkeeper Michael Moschogianis was in the thick of the action.

Early in the second half, he wiped about the unfortunate Henry Fagg as both went for a high ball into the box.

The loose ball fell to Ben Crosswell, who slammed it into the unguarded net to give the Zebras a 3-2 lead.

Fagg, looking somewhat groggy, was able to resume after some minutes of treatment.

In the 71st minute, Moschogianis was, in turn, wiped out by his own defender, Sam McIntyre, who appeared to have been pushed into the goalkeeper by the on-rushing Zebras forward, Dwayne Walsh, a former Clarence player.

Moschogianis was down for the count and didn’t move. He was eventually stretchered off and an ambulance summoned. It was feared he had suffered a neck injury.

Later reports indicated he was all right.

Clarence took the lead after just two minutes. Mattias Toghill’s free-kick from just outside the box on the left was headed against the near post by Ben Parker, and Luke Cripps followed up to score.

In the 6th minute, McIntyre hit the bar and Cripps again had the ball in the net from the rebound, but this time the assistant referee’s flag was raised to dampen the celebrations.

It was 2-0 three minutes later, however, as Zebras failed to clear a corner and Cripps fired home through a crowded penalty area.

Crosswell pulled a goal back in the 29th minute with a sweetly struck left-footed shot.

Andy Barron almost got Clarence’s third in the 38th minute, but after racing through the defence, he fired into the side-netting.

Five minutes before the break, Moschogianis saved Crosswell’s shot and conceded a corner, from which Walsh netted to make it 2-2.

Crosswell put Zebras in front four minutes after the resumption, but in the 69th minute, Cripps completed his hat-trick and made it 3-3 when he was given acres of space on the right.

Two minutes from the end, Chris Hunt was unlucky when he outpaced the Zebras defence down the left and shot, but the ball came back into play off the inside of the far post.

Four minutes into stoppage time, lack of concentration by the Clarence defence allowed Aaron Brazendale to race through and plant the winner past substitute goalkeeper Sam Sweetten.

The win put Zebras 7 points ahead of second-placed Glenorchy Knights and 8 in front of reigning champions and third-placed South Hobart.

Clarence dropped to fifth, but with a game against bottom-side University in hand.

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  • Clarence United coach, Andrew Brown, said:

“The result is disappointing, but not the way we played. I mean, it should be obvious to everyone out there we went out to try and attack Zebras.

“We did open them up, we did score goals, we did hit woodwork, but unfortunately not enough tonight.

“But, as we’ve seen through the Summer Cup final and then in the first leg encounter and then in the second leg encounter, there’s not much between the two sides.

“Maybe, Zebras just had that little bit more experience and were more clinical towards the end.

“We had two or three chances in the last three or four minutes and they could have killed the game off, and then go up the other end and they score.

“Full credit to Zebras. I think most people would say that they are the best football team in the competition at the moment.

“They are not on top of the ladder for nothing, and it’s something for us to aspire to over the next couple of years.”

  • Tilford Zebras coach, Nick Lapolla, said:

“Well, in the first ten minutes and you’re two nil down, the character of the blokes was shown. They’re always fighting.

“They’ve always got that character to keep playing. It was a battle.

“The last twenty minutes, Clarence put us under heaps of pressure, but in the end we’ve scored.

“It’s three points.”
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STATISTICS

CLARENCE UNITED TILFORD ZEBRAS
12 Goal Attempts 11
9 Shots on Target 7
7 Corners 5
16 Fouls Committed 12
14 Off-Sides 7
1 (Barron 87) Yellow Cards 1 (Walsh 72)
0 Red Cards 0

Clarence United:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Parker 1 1
Cripps 3 3
McIntyre 1 1
Toghill 1 0
Hunt 4 3
Barron 1 0
Huigsloot 1 1

Tilford Zebras:

PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Crosswell 4 3
Walsh 2 2
Telega 2 0
Welch 1 1
Cairns 1 0
Brazendale 1 1

6 comments:

Neutral said...

Clarence very unlucky. Well and truly matched it with possibly the best team in the state currently. Clarence definitely deserved a point, but it seems these teams dont draw and always provide a sensational game to watch. The large crowd at wentworth are fast becoming the best crowd in the south.

Cripps proving unstoppable at the moment. Changing my tune from previous posts, he definitely got votes in a losing team on saturday.

stallion said...

Neutral, I agree totally with your comment that Clarence matched the Zebras and certainly deserved a point. Credit however, needs to be given to the Zebras as not too many teams in the league would or could have risen to the occasion after being 2 - 0 down. As an avid supporter and former player of the Zebras my only critiscism is that, at times they can be exposed in defence however, they make up for it in fire power. Ken "Poaching" Morton who finds all the excuses under the sun when South Lose, (rather than giving credit where due to the opposition), would give his left arm for half the strike power the Zebras' have. When you look at performances across all divisions it is clear that both the Zebras' and Clarence will be potent and successful clubs for years to come. Well done to the players for providing the spectators with a cracker of a game. I hope the Clarence Keeper pulled out of it Ok, and by the way give poor Walshy a break (not directed at you Neutral), I was right behind the goals at the time and it was far from his fault nor deliberate. A good decent guy who plays the ball at all times.

Captain said...

I was standing behind the goals also. Walsh pushed McIntyre into the keeper.

Whether that was reatalliation for the earlier challenge on Fagg or an at the moment impulse that is what happened.

A reckless act spotted by the refs assistant. May have been lucky to get yellow and not red.

To his credit Walsh did appear to show concern for Moz - as did everyone else who was close by.

The Phoenix said...

I would not say it was far from his fault stallion , i too was right behind the goals and Walsh's action was deliberate ..but he is not a dirty player and I am sure he would not do it again knowing what the outcome was . He got a yellow and that was fair would have been harsh to give him a red. Moz was ok in the end so alls well that ends well. Great game well worth the money and great crowd ,very well behaved . good clean banter between the fans . A few other clubs could learn a thing or two from Zebs and CU.

B P said...

Well said all round, glad to see that Moz is OK looked a bit ugly early. Yellow card ??? re walsh running at full pace it's hard to stop , most would do what he did, self preservation but not a lot of malice. dead right re the crowd great to have a bit of banter but nothing spiteful and all having fun.. Go Juv ..By the way unlucky Sth must have dominated again without scoring !!!!!!!..

Anonymous said...

An excellent game to watch, these two teams in my mind play the best and most exciting football to watch. i missed the first two goals going inside buying the drinks! i came back and clarence were two nil up!

#8, who exactly showed concern? from where i was standing, it was only the clarence players concerned, and when Self did show interest, it was of the wrong nature, therefore two of the clarence boys having to be pulled away from Self by Collins? I was standing behind the goals at this point so i couldn't hear what was said.

Talking about the referees, they were pretty good compared to alot of stuff we have seen this season. Credit to them.