Melbourne Victory beat Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 at Docklands tonight to keep their hopes of progressing to the last 16 of the AFC Champions League from Group E alive.
A first-half penalty by Kevin Muscat settled the game.
But, it was a dubious penalty, awarded for a foul on Robbie Kruse, who appeared to be just outside the box when the challenge occurred and who seemed to go down far too easily.
Seconds before, Kawasaki had been denied a spot-kick at the other end.
Muscat produced a very physical display which, surprisingly, went unpunished.One elbow to the head of an opponent and a couple of arms across the body to impede others were let go by the Iranian referee.
The man-of-the-match was Melbourne goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak, who produced nine brilliant saves, some of them world class.
He turned one effort against the crossbar, while his reflex save in the dying seconds was outstanding.
Kawasaki had 55 per cent of the possession and won the corner count 13 to one.
Photos (Top to Bottom):Tilford Zebras starting line-up; Kingborough Lions United senior squad; Referee Sean Collins welcomes Zebras captain Andrew Telega for the toss as officials Patrick Galloway and Michael Sprod, and Lions captain Marcello Marchioli look on; Lions keeper David Leamey punches clear; Lions' Greg Freeman is congratulated on his goal by Brett Andrews; Zebras' Daniel Lapolla slips the ball inside for Andrew Telega to score; Lapolla is congratulated by team-mates for his 'assist'; The Lions' Michael Palmer (right) asks questions of his team-mates as Leamey picks the ball out of the net; Zebras' Daniel Lapolla controls the ball as the Lions' Marc Iseli moves in; The Zebras' Jayden Welch on the run past the Lions' Ryan Bevan; Former Zebras star Sergio Pace must be thinking: 'Gee, I was faster than that' as Leamey collects the ball ahead of Matt Hall; Daniel Lapolla shields the ball from Andrew Davies; Lapolla tangles with Tom McDonald; The Lions' Brett Andrews gets a pass in just ahead of Ryan Smith [PlessPix]
Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League (KGV Park, Sunday, 28 March 2010)
Kingborough Lions United deserved to win this game purely on the chances.
And, they also had cause to question some key decisions that went against them.
For example, in the 79th minute, the Zebras’ last defender, Ryan Smith, appeared to foul Joel Schuth just outside the box as the Kingborough player raced for goal.Mr Collins waved play on when a red card seemed warranted for Smith.
And, in the last minute, Zebras goalkeeper, Troy Kaden, dropped a cross from the left by Schuth and Brett Andrews fired the ball into the net, but Mr Collins had already blown his whistle for a foul on the keeper.
It seemed as if Kaden may have collided with a team-mate, but in any case, no goal was awarded and Kaden took the free-kick.
No wonder Kingborough coach Geoff Freeman had a wry smile on his face when interviewed after the match.
Zebras coach, Romeo Frediani, when asked to comment on the foul on Schuth and the play-on decision, said that Schuth’s legs ‘were left behind’ after the incident.
Kingborough took the lead in the 4th minute when a back-pass by Henry Fagg put Kaden in trouble.The keeper had no option but to try and head the ball clear, but the ball fell to the lurking Greg Freeman, who rounded Kaden and scored.
Ross Hinkley almost added a second for the visitors in the 8th minute, but his powerful shot was directed straight at Kaden.
Zebras drew level in the 12th minute after splendid work down the right by Daniel Lapolla, who rode a heavy tackle and stayed on his feet before squaring the ball inside for his captain, Andrew Telega, to shoot past keeper David Leamey.
Telega had a marvellous game for Zebras, saving his side on several occasions with timely interventions and also going close to scoring with a couple of headers from set-pieces.
The second half was a mere five minutes old when Kingborough’s Ryan Bevan shot narrowly past the left-hand post.
In the 62nd minute, a free-kick by Hinkley found Andrew Davies, who headed tamely at goal when he should have worked the keeper.
Seven minutes later, Bevan headed straight at Kaden following Schuth’s free-kick.
Zebras replaced Dwayne Walsh and Daniel Lapolla with Luke Engels and Adam Young 20 minutes from the end in an attempt to liven things up in attack, but it was the Lions who continued to set the pace.
In the 77th minute, Freeman broke through the middle and seemed certain to score, but he somehow fired wide.
Two minutes later came the controversy involving Smith and Schuth.
In the 85th minute, Luke Engels managed a fierce shot at goal, but it flew straight at Leamey.
A minute later, Freeman worked his way through the defence on the left of the box but his shot was straight at Kaden.The ball rebounded to Schuth, whose shot was blocked.
Freeman was replaced three minutes from the end by Trent Pearce.
Within seconds of the change, Zebras earned a corner, from which Telega headed narrowly wide.
The Lions thought they had the winner a minute from time when Kaden dropped Schuth’s cross, but joy turned to disappointment when Andrews’s effort was ruled out by the referee.
Marcello Marchioli almost headed into his own net from Fagg’s cross in the last minute, while in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Marchioli’s right-wing cross was headed over the bar by Bevan.
“I don’t think we took control of the game at all.
“There were some positives, but I think the negatives outweighed the positives.
“We’ll go back to training and do another hard week and see what we can come up with next week.”
·Kingborough Lions United coach, Geoff Freeman, said:
“I’m really disappointed with the result.
“I think we did enough to probably get a little bit more out of it.
“I think we were a little unlucky, and we rode our luck a little bit as well.
“Zebras definitely created opportunities, but I think we probably had the better opportunities and, if a few things had perhaps gone our way, then we probably could have won it.”
Photos (Top to Bottom): Lions' Michael Palmer (left) tries to stop Zebras' Jayden Welch; Lions' Michael Palmer gets in the way of Zebras' Dwayne Walsh; Zebras' Jayden Welch (right) under pressure from Lions' Marc Iseli; Trent Pearce's penalty in the reserves against former team-mate and now Zebras goalkeeper Jason Voss comes back and down off the crossbar; Pearce scores from the rebound [PlessPix]
Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League
Tilford Zebras 1 (A Telega 12) dw Kingborough Lions United 1 (G Freeman 4)
Reserves
Tilford Zebras 3 (A young, M Smith, S Hall) lt Kingborough Lions United 4 (M Bremner 2, D Pearce, T Pearce)
