Photos (Top to Bottom): The South Hobart starting XI; The Northern Rangers starting XI; The match officials (L-R) are assistant referee Brenton Kopra, fourth official Ivan Jozeljic, referee Kim Barker and assistant referee Craig Phillips; South Hobart captain Bart Beecroft (left) pressures Rangers midfielder Paul Bremner; Bart Beecroft gets the ball away in midfield; Rangers' Issa Dumbuya tries to get past South Hobart's Jim Pennicott (left) and Tom Roach; Frantic defending in the Rangers goalmouth; South Hobart's Shae Hickey and Kostas Kanakaris win the ball in midfield; South's Jonathon Lo under pressure but in control; South's Jim Pennicott lets fly from range and just misses; South Hobart's Tom Roach (No. 10) heads at goal; Tom Roach goes for a header against Rangers pair Paul Bremner and Todd Hingston; South's fullback Liam Scott lunges for the ball; The victorious South Hobart players after the match [PlessPix]
State-wide Top-Four Grand Final (KGV Park, Saturday, 11 September 2010)
___________________________
South Hobart 1 (T Roach 67)
Northern Rangers 0
HT: 0-0 Att: 500 Ref: K Barker
South Hobart: Kruijver - Pennicott, Ludford, D Brown (Upton 85), Scott - Hickey, Roach, Beecroft, Kanakaris - Brennan (Wook Bum Heo 72), Lo (Downes 83) [Substitute not used: Moncur]
Northern Rangers: Pooley - Tams, Tuma, Luck, Demeijer (Cuschieri 55) - Nicholson, Bremner, Hingston, Schipper, Dumbuya (Lanau-Atkinson 80) - Jago [Substitutes not used: Summers, Lichtendonk]
___________________________
South Hobart set a new Tasmanian record by going 34 games unbeaten when they downed Northern Rangers 1-0 to claim the State-wide Top-Four championship. It was their fifth trophy from the five that were on offer this season.
They were clearly the better side, apart from the opening few minutes and the final ten minutes, which is when Rangers created a couple of excellent scoring chances, which they squandered.
South demonstrated their usual style of play, characterised by possession play and attacks down the flanks. But, their Achilles Heel was again evident - an inability to put away good chances.
Jonathon Lo, the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League’s leading marksman, missed four good scoring opportunities, while Andy Brennan, Shae Hickey and substitute Greg Downes were also off target.
The goal came from a typical South Hobart move in the 67th minute. A throw-in from the left near the corner flag was collected by Kostas Kanakaris, who laid the ball back for Hickey to cross towards the far post and there was Tom Roach to head powerfully past Marshall Pooley.
That seemed to spark Rangers into action and they pushed men forward for the first time in the match and provided support to their lone front-runner, Stefan Jago.
In the 71st minute, Todd Hingston headed Gabriel Tams’s corner straight at Sam Kruijver when he should have scored, while in the 83rd minute, Tams blazed just over the bar with a ferocious shot.
In the dying seconds, Paul Bremner’s header bounced slowly towards the line but the ball was cleared in the nick of time.
Official man-of-the-match, South Hobart fullback Jim Pennicott, was unlucky not to score twice. In the 7th minute, he fired narrowly wide of the angle of crossbar and post, while on the hour, his deep cross from the right deceived Pooley and came back into the keeper’s arms off the base of the far left-hand post.
South Hobart deserved the win, but it might all have been different if Rangers had come out of their defensive shell earlier and applied pressure to their opponents.
___________________________
South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:
“I thought it was a good game played in a good spirit.
“I thought we dominated the football match for long spells. We made some good opportunities and, apart from 8, 9 or 10 minutes from the end, where they had a bit of momentum and a couple of chances, they never really looked like scoring.
“I thought where we’ve been and what we’ve done this year, it was another good performance from us.
“Once we settled and got into our rhythm, I thought we passed the ball really well and created some really good opportunities.
“Obviously, near the end, we should have finished the game off well and truly. Jonathon Lo and Greg Downes both had reasonable chances that should have been tucked away.”
Northern Rangers coach, Adam Whitemore, said:
“I think the better side won. I wouldn’t dispute that.
“We knew South Hobart’s intensity was going to be a problem for us.
“The intensity in the southern league is much higher than in the northern league and it showed today.
“Under pressure, we couldn’t quite keep possession as we like to. They played pretty well and pressed us high as expected.
“They probably had twice the chances we had.
“Disappointed to lose, most definitely, but the better side won.”
9 comments:
Why doesn't anyone ever comment on South Hobart success', are people jealous because they play such good football or what!
Congratulations to South Hobart to a great year!
Haha, where are those people that set up the south hobart "hate" group on facebook now? don't have anything to say now do you!
winning isnt everything, its the way you go about it that really matters. Ask Mr Morton how many extra players he is going to have to get from other clubs to fill the massive void that will be left with the number of players they are losing next year. If south arent in the hunt for the title half way through a season i reckon old kenny will find another job somewhere else, cant wait for that day!! But well done to south for winning everything, you were a trully awesome club this year.
next year will be a huge challenge for south hobart, shall prove interesting to see how they go.
The reason people are not commenting on South's success is because people don't really care. This season was a boring one as it was decided very early. There was more atmosphere, more excitement and more passion in the relegation deciding games than the championship deciding ones. When a team has the best coach money can buy and a strong group of current players as well skilled players signed from other clubs as well as imports, how competitive is it going to be when all other teams have not as much money, inferior coaches and depleted playing stocks...
South had an amazing season and are a slick playing unit but honestly, no one outside of the "south bandwagon" really cares.
If the rumours are correct and South DO lose a lot of their current senior list, it will be interesting if they can maintain their "dominence" or if cracks form and the excuses start and Kenny leaves cos its no longer the winning "glamour club"..??
Here's hoping for a more competitive, passionate and exciting 2011..
south hobart is like a book without any pictures boring as ay
Wining a title would be worth celebrating but wining a title by merely 'poaching' the more talented players from other clubs is pathetic. Why congratulate and celebrate a side that wins a title under these conditions. All these other clubs spent time in either producing or recruiting good players to just have a coach and club like South Hobart to come along and poach them and thinking that they have every right to do so.
How disgusting!
If I ever coach, I think I will just promise players everything under the sun and include getting them to play in the Champions League as long as they play for south and then when they ask me at seasons end when their dream move to Europe will happen, I will tell them that they are not quite at that level yet and will need to continue playing for south otherwise they will never make it. And on and on it goes.
Congratulations.....bah. For what.
Who'd they poach?hickey and Kanakaris both wanted to play for Sth and are the only ones in the starting lineup that haven't played more than 3 seasons with south.
Haha the old poaching issue.noone gets payed to play at Sth so they would have to wanted to play wouldn't they?did Ladic get 'poached' by zebras then?
Post a Comment