South Hobart prepare for physical encounter with Clarence

Photos (Top to Bottom): Jonathon Lo may well be among the goals against Clarence; South striker Kostas Kanakaris has recovered from a back injury and may play against Clarence; Andrew Clark (left) will be missing for New Town Eagles, but Jacob Huigsloot should be a key player for Knights in their confrontation with Olympia; Shane Kent (left) should get a start for Eagles against Zebras [PlessPix]

South Hobart coach Ken Morton expects a hard, physical clash against Clarence United at South Hobart on Saturday at 2.30pm.

The reigning champions are almost assured of retaining their title and so the outcome of the match against fourth-placed Clarence is not all that important in terms of points.

Psychologically, the outcome is important for both sides. South Hobart want to keep their momentum going as they have not lost a game so far, while Clarence want to consolidate their place in the top-four. Last season, they came from fourth to win the State title and they also picked up the Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy.

South Hobart will probably play their highly-rated Korean, Kwun-Jun, who has returned after a trial with Gold Coast United.

He may play at centre-back if Hugh Ludford has not recovered from a stomach bug. If Ludford is fit, the Korean is likely to play in central midfield.

Striker Kostas Kanakaris has trained twice this week after a back injury restricted his participation in training and games in recent weeks and he may start in place of precocious youngster Andy Brennan. Morton is keen not to burn out Brennan, who has made a real name for himself with his goalscoring feats since being elevated to the senior side.

“We’re expecting a physical confrontation,’ said Morton. ‘We need to work extremely hard at getting the ball down and passing it through them and around them and trying to exploit space.

“We are expecting them to come at us strongly, with early balls in to Cripps and Hamlett, who has been looking very, very sharp. We’ll need to combat them in midfield and up top and try and exploit them in other areas and see if we can get the breakthrough we need.

“It’ll be a tough game, that’s for sure.”

New Town Eagles coach George Krambousanos must be pulling his hair out as a continuing run of injuries limits his team selection.

Third-last Eagles are away to second-placed Tilford Zebras at KGV Park at 6.30pm on Saturday and will be without captain and central defender Chris Wass yet again. He is still injured and may be three or four weeks away from a comeback.

Defender Andrew Clark and midfielder Ethan Menzie have exams and are also likely to miss this match, while midfielder Jamie Vernon has work commitments.

Midfielder Simon Strang is injured and has only a 50/50 chance of starting, while Mark Page tried to train on Thursday night but is clearly not recovered from a leg injury and may be out for another two weeks.

Josh Quan will start, while Shane Kent is also a likely inclusion. Striker Adam McKeown has exams but should be available.

Krambousanos said his players had trained well on Tuesday and Thursday and that he may try a radical new formation. If it does not work, he would return to the normal 4-4-2.

“We will come up with a formation that has not been seen before in Hobart because I need to do something to make the most of the players I have at my disposal,” said Krambousanos.

“We had a training session where we went through it and we also had a blackboard session. I just hope they can do it. If not, we’ll go back to our normal 4-4-2.”

Zebras should be at full strength, but they will need to play better than they did in drawing 1-1 with Glenorchy Knights last Friday night.

Third-placed Glenorchy Knights face a danger game against last-placed Olympia Warriors at KGV Park at 8pm on Friday.

Olympia must surely gain their first win soon and Knights coach Nick Harrison said last week that this game could be a ‘banana skin’ for his side.

Olympia had Kingborough Lions United just where they wanted them last week when the Lions were reduced to ten men, but they failed to finish them off.

They will need to be much more clinical in their finishing to dispose of the Knights, who may well bounce back as they are desperate to get a win after six games without picking up a three-pointer.

Fifth-placed Kingborough Lions United will be without suspended midfielder Brett Andrews when they host seventh-ranked Taroona at Lightwood Park at 2.30pm on Saturday.

Home-ground advantage may just tip the scales in Kingborough’s favour.