The Lions just hold on to beat Taroona

Photos (Top to Bottom): Small crowds attended Saturday's matches at South Hobart; Kingborough's Tom McDonald takes on Taroona's Lucas Wyatt; Kingborough's Marcus Bremner holds off Taroona's Toby Dove; Taroona's Sam Johnson hurdles his keeper Richard Nettlefold; Taroona's Sam Johnson, in the strange brown shorts (Taroona wear black shorst) beats Kingborough's Trent Pearce to the ball; Marc Iseli about to tackle Sam Johnson as referee Ian Colhoun watches; Greg Freeman shoots at Taroona's goal; Kingborough's Brett Andrews climbs for a header; Kingborough's Greg Freeman shoots past the keeper for the only goal of the match; Freeman is congratulated by his team-mates after scoring; Brett Andrews gets in a shot before Sam Johnson can block [PlessPix]

Kingborough Lions United 1 (Greg Freeman 6)

Taroona 0

HT: 1-0 Att: 100 Ref: I Colhoun

Kingborough Lions United: Leamey - Palmer, Davies, Lucas, Bevan - Bremner, Andrews, Iseli, T Pearce - Freeman, McDonald [Interchange: Marchioli, Nugteren] [Coach: Geoff Freeman]

Taroona: Nettlefold - Tubb, Wyatt, Johnson, Darragh Carey - Duncan Carey, James, Atkinson, Dove - Luttmer, Gates [Interchange: Ryan, Tuantab, Hortle, Elliott] [Coach: Ben Horgan]

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Kingborough Lions United’s chances of reaching the final of the Premier League section of the Summer Cup final from Group B hang by a thread.

They beat Taroona by a solitary goal, scored by Greg Freeman in the 6^th minute.

But most other sides would have beaten the Lions, given the same chances that Taroona somehow squandered.

Taroona seem to be able to score with ease in the northern Steve Hudson Cup pre-season competition each Sunday.

They have netted eight goals in two games in Launceston, but have yet to break the ice in Hobart.

Perhaps some witchdoctor from the veldt has jinxed them by burying something in the goalmouths.

How else to explain the chances they missed against the Lions?

On Saturday, they outplayed the Lions in the second half and might have scored three or four times.

Toby Dove should have buried his chance, but shot tamely, and then, when presented with another easy opening by Duncan Carey, he again failed to hit the target.

Near the end, Samuel Ryan might at least have squared the match, but he shot wide.

Taroona coach Ben Horgan has a full head of hair, but at this rate he will be pulling it out clump by clump and he could well be bald by the end of the season.

The goal came when Freeman was released down the right and, with a difficult angle for a shot confronting him, Taroona goalkeeper Richard Nettlefold made things easy for the striker by coming off his line.

Freeman doesn’t need help like that to score. But, when it is offered to him, he rarely spurns the opportunity.

With Nettlefold caught in No-Man’s Land, Freeman slotted the ball past him and inside the far post for what proved to be the winner.

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· Kingborough Lions United defender, Isaac Lucas, said:

“I thought we played very well in the first half. We played good possession football and let the ball do the work.

“I think we played more the shape we want to play this year, particularly with Brett [Andrews] up front as a target man and with two guys coming off him.

“The second half was fairly disappointing, really, because we kind of lost our shape, particularly defensively.

“It was a bit leaky and we had players playing in spots they weren’t used to across midfield.

“We were missing Ross Hinkley back there.

“Overall, it was good to get a win, but the second half was disappointing.”

· Taroona coach, Ben Horgan, said:

“I don’t know what we have to do to score.

“Today we missed three or four chances and it’s hard to know what to do because we worked on finishing at training during the week.

“I may have to look at giving some other players a run.”