Thursday, July 22, 2010

Clarence could reach their second Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy final in succession with victory over Burnie

[To paraphrase my countryman, Arnold Schwarzenegger: "I'm back!"


This blog is now open again.]


Saturday will be a big day for four of Tasmania’s Premier League clubs.


The semi-finals of the Milan Lakoseljac Memorial Trophy pits league champions South Hobart against fifth-placed New Town Eagles at Clare Street at 2pm, while in the north, third-placed Burnie United host fourth-placed southerners Clarence United at Montello at 2pm.


These will be big occasions for Eagles and Burnie United, in particular, both of who are on the verge of their greatest success in recent years. A win will give them a chance of picking up some scarce silverware.


It will be a notable day for South Hobart and Clarence, too.


South are in line for a clean sweep of trophies, while Clarence are in with a chance of repeating their successes of last season when they came from fourth spot to take out the State-wide Cup and the State premiership.


If they can beat Burnie, it could be a case of déjà vu for the Eastern Shore outfit.


South Hobart will field their strongest eleven and the away venue should not trouble them too much.


“Our side will consist of the 12 players I nominated for the State squad, together with Mark Moncur, Wok Bum Heo and Cam Williams,” said South Hobart coach, Ken Morton.


“The team is playing consistent football and, because it’s a knock-out, I think we’ll be ready and up for the game.


“We have to go in and win it if we are to be in the final so I think the players will be focussed on doing that.


“We are well aware of White Eagles, who have been playing well lately. We’re well aware of their strengths and we need to work towards combating their strengths as much as we possibly can and play to our strengths, which is keeping the ball better.


“The pitch is the same for both sides, but they may handle it better than us because they sue the long ball better than us, but when you’re kicking uphill, over the half-way line it’s all football pitch and there’s no cricket wicket there, so we’ve got to capitalise on that.


“It’ll be two footballing sides, both playing with a lot of confidence and not afraid to have a go. We’re obviously the league champions and we’re been playing well all year, so we’ve just got to get our act together for the final stages.


“I’ve told the players we’ve still got a long journey. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got a long journey to go. It’s only a semi-final and then you’ve got three league games and the top-four after that.”


Eagles will be without midfielder Blayne Hudson, who has conjunctivitis.


The line-up is likely to be: Nathan Pitchford - Andy Clark, Shane Kent, Michael Anderson, Chris Wass - Ben Whitehall, Ethan Menzie, Mark Page - Jake Clamp, Alex Leszczynski, Adam McKeown.


“The players are hungry for this as they’ve never won silverware as a team before,” said Eagles coach. George Krambousanos.


“We’re having a light lunch at the club rooms at 11.30 and then walking to the ground as a group just to relax.”


Burnie will have to be at their best to stop the visiting Clarence United, despite the fact the southerners have drawn their past two games.


Clarence will have visions of repeating last year’s fantastic finish to the season and will be inspired by the possibility of a repeat.


Burnie scored an impressive 5-1 win over Riverside Olympic last weekend and, with Chris Smith and Jeremy De Bomford in scoring form, the home side should give a good account of themselves.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back Walter.

The Phoenix said...

welcome back Walter , you have been missed . South and Clarence for me , repeat of last years final .

Anonymous said...

south and burnie for me i hope.. eagles and clarence are biggest jockeys in the league

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Walter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

welcome back walter no doubt the idiotic comments will continue but hopefully the articles the comments stem from are of the standard we have come to expect from you, compared to "The Lowdown"
and define "jockeys" anon 4:49pm im truely interested to hear your opinion!

Whitey said...

dont know what you mean by jockey's but both are good teams. the players that are out will deffinately hurt eagles chance of defeating south but i believe they can do it at clare st...cmon white eagles!!!

Anonymous said...

Burnie will struggle if they continue to play 3 at the back, with such a high line. Chris Hunt wil rip them apart. Bloody good going forward though

Anonymous said...

Mr Morton including Williams is a sign that he's shoring up the young talent for next season.

Anonymous said...

JIM PENNICOT is the best player in the history of the state.

Anonymous said...

Bom tê-lo de volta...
fez muita falta.

Anonymous said...

Funny How you can't even spell his name right.

Anonymous said...

*Jim Pennicott will be the best player in the history of the state.

Pixel 40 said...

Welcome Walter hopefully we can have coverage at all level, we have miss you mate :-)