Eagles survive late comeback by Taroona

Photos (Top to Bottom): Michael Anderson wheels away (right) after scoring Eagles' opener; Eagles' Alex Leszczynski wins a header in midfield; Taroona's Hugo Luttmer (left) and eagles' Ethan Menizie in a chase for the ball; Taroona's Jordan Wright (left) tackles Eagles' Alex Leszczynski; Eagles' Blayne Hudson clears the ball before Taroona's Hugo Luttmer can intervene; Eagles' Jacob Clamp gets the ball past Taroona's Hugo Luttmer; Eagles' Jacob Clamp confronted by Taroona's Toby Dove; Eagles' Ben Whitehall (left) about to be challenged by Taroona's Jordan Wright; Taroona's David Abbott (left) and Eagles' Steve Louden in a chase for the ball [PlessPix]

Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League (Clare Street, Sunday, 30 May 2010)

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New Town Eagles 4 (M Anderton 12, A McKeown 45, B Whitehall 51, A Leszczynski 69)

Taroona 2 (N Pitchford 77 og, D Carey 79)

HT: 2-0 Att: 90 Ref: P Galloway

New Town Eagles: Pitchford - Clark, Louden, Clamp, Anderson - Strang, Menzie, Hudson, Whitehall (Quan 78) - Leszczynski (Shackcloth 91), McKeown [Substitutes not used: Page, L Ferrall] [Coach: George Krambousanos]

Taroona: Hortle - Wright, Schaap, Johnson, Wyatt - Duncan Carey, Macgregor, Elliott, Luttmer (Atkinson 54) - Abbott (Hamilton 54), Dove [Substitutes not used: M Hedge, Meyers] [Coach: Ben Horgan]

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Taroona were on the back foot from the start on a very muddy pitch at Clare Street. I can’t recall mud sticking on a ball like it did in this game and it seemed as if the teams were using a black ball at times rather than a white one.

Ben Whitehall almost put Eagles ahead in the opening minutes when he ran onto a long ball out of defence by Steve Louden, but a last-ditch tackle by Taroona’s Sam Johnson saved the day for the visitors.

Nevertheless, they were caught out in the 12th minute when they failed to deal with a Whitehall corner and defender Michael Anderson placed a low shot to the right of goalkeeper Robert Hortle and into the far corner of the net to give the home side the lead.

It was all Eagles for most of the half and Adam McKeown made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when he outjumped the defence after Whitehall’s lob into the penalty area and beat Hortle.

Six minutes after the resumption, Whitehall made it 3-0 with a shot from 20 metres that took a slight deflection.

Taroona coach Ben Horgan brought on Garry Hamilton and Marcus Atkinson in place of Hugo Luttmer and David Abbott shortly after in an effort to get back into contention.

Louden, who had a much better game than he has had in recent weeks, was unlucky to see his effort deflected over the Taroona bar in the 66th minute.

Taroona’s token response came a minute later when Hamilton announced his presence with a tame low shot that was easily fielded by Eagles keeper Nathan Pitchford.

In the 69th minute, Alex Leszczynski appeared to have killed off the game when he hammered home a tremendous curling shot from just outside the box to make it 4-0.

But, there was a sting in the tail of this encounter and two goals in three minutes by Taroona made for a nervous finish for Eagles.

In the 77th minute, Macgregor attacked down the left and his shot from an impossible angle was somehow turned into his own net by Pitchford.

Two minutes later, Duncan Carey took advantage of slack defending by Eagles to net a second for Taroona and it was all hands to the pumps as far as Eagles were concerned.

They brought on Joshua Quan and Adam Shackcloth in an endeavour to steady the ship and held out without conceding any more goals.

The win lifted Eagles into fifth spot, while Taroona remain in second-last place.

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· New Town Eagles coach, George Krambousanos, said:

“Training on Tuesday was fantastic and was followed on Thursday with the lads coming down from the north.

“Four great goals and, well, we gave two away and I think we stopped there for a while.

“But, the lads played to the plan we had and they did very well. Congratulations.

“I hope Taroona keep going and the best to them, too.

“We don’t even think about where we are [on the ladder]. We’re hoping to be able to get into the four if all goes well. That is what we planned to do pre-season and, yes, it looks as if we might be getting there slowly.

“It is a bit of breathing space for us.”

· Taroona coach, Ben Horgan, said:

“They scored some really nice goals and they just looked much more desperate and harder than we were.

“It’s not a great pitch to play football on, but even when we did try to play we got it wrong. They beat us in the physical contests and we didn’t play good football even when we did have possession.

“They were pretty good value for their four goals and it flattered us in the end. We played for about ten minutes at the end and got two goals, but really, the game was all over when we started playing.

“I thought it was a poor effort [from us]. Eighty minutes of garbage followed by ten minutes of good football didn’t make me happy.”