Photos (Top to Bottom): Taroona's Marcus Atkinson moves in on Beachside's Iwao Shimizu as referee Michael Sprod looks on; Alex Edwards scores a penalty for Taroona to make it 3-1; A Beachside player stretches for the ball between two Taroona opponents; A Taroona defender gets in a slide-tackle; Gary Slicer watches the action from the Taroona bench; Taroona's Sam Johnson (left) beats an opponent to the ball; Taroona's Sam Johnson tackles Beachside's Tom Gordon; Taroona's Hugo Luttmer is confronted by Beachside's Nathan Robinson (No. 5); Iwao Shimizu, who played with Kingborough last season, in Beachside colours; Glenorchy Knights players watch the game from the University clubroom [PlessPix]
Taroona, relegated from Premier League to Division next season, beat newly promoted Beachside 3-1 in a pre-season friendly at Olinda Grove on Sunday.
And, Taroona scored all the goals.
Sam Hamilton’s own goal gave Beachside the lead, but Sam James equalised with a marvellous long-range strike from Hugo Luttmer’s lay-off.
Sam Johnson put Taroona ahead with a close-range effort, while a penalty converted by Alex Edwards late in the match made it 3-1 for the Division One side.
Neither side was at full strength and not too much can be read into such practice games, but there were plenty of interested observers present.
Ken Morton, South Hobart’s coach was there, as was Matthew Rhodes and many of his Metro players.
Glenorchy Knights assistant coach, Anthony Grundy, was also in attendance with many of his senior side. They came to Olinda Grove after an intra-club practice match at Prince of Wales Bay earlier in the afternoon.
Kingborough Lions United midfielder, Iwao Shimizu, was an inclusion in the Beachside outfit.
“It was absolutely superb,” said Taroona coach, Gary Slicer. “The boys really dug in.
“We only had 13 players in the squad because five of our boys got stuck in Melbourne with Tiger Airways. Five senior players.
“So, all in all, I just think the boys played really, really good football.
“They pushed the ball around, they dug in and they kept shape. Very impressed. Yeah, very impressed.
“I was really impressed with the way the boys played, especially the young fellows.
“They dug in and they had the legs as well.
“You could tell we had a core of players who have been to training for the last six weeks and they’re the ones that kept the fitness up.
“We’re really looking forward to working with these lads in 2011 and getting them back up into the Premier League. That’s the aim.”
Beachside had former coach, Nathan Robinson, and Colin Shepherd in their side.
Former South Hobart and Taroona striker David Abbott also played for Beachside.
“From my perspective, it was a good hit-out,” said Beachside coach, Brett Pullen. “The first one for us.
“Obviously, we played the TIS boys on our second training run, but we’ve had a lot of guys come since then.
“Results at this time of the year don’t mean anything because there’s no points or anything.
“I played 18 players today and I rotated them in a lot of different positions.
“Nine of the first eleven didn’t play with us last season, so it was nice to give them a run.
“Obviously, we didn’t play Soszynski today and we gave young Biggsy a full game in goal.
“I only had a little bit of a run around and, obviously, Sheppy was in there, too.
“We’ve got some young kids in there who have never played Premier League but have aspirations to, so this is how we see if they can or not.
10 comments:
I think sam johnston should be in prem class player.
Willy Rabbits caught in the act! "I'm not eating the chocolate! Honest!"
Glenorchy Knights' Anthony Grundy giving a Signature cheeky look. Good to see the legend lives on!
I think the answer is "no they can't"
the taroona side looked very young and were missing most from the team we saw this year.
a competitive premier league outfit of seniors and reserves should have beaten them and beachside seemed frustrated at the end.
A lot of work for BP required I think.
nice to see j.marsh had a shave for the photo, that growth is only 5 minutes old
Hardly a surprise! Taroona did play in a better competition last year, so they would be a little more battle hardy.
The problem for Taroona now is that they will play against lesser skilled opposition for 2011, which will run the risk of reducing their own standards.
This is the problem faced by any team that does the relegation/promotion yo-yo on an annual basis.
Look at Atalanta in Italy, they are the best at the promotion from Serie B to only be relegated from Serie A the following year, and on it goes.
Atalanta's excuse is that they develop youngsters when in B which they accrue cheaply, then when they get to Serie A, these players are worth more money, so they sell them off for a profit. They openly say they are not in it to stay in the A competition, they are in it to develop players and sell them for a profit.
Unfortunately that is not an excuse that holds in Tasmania.
The young Taroona lads were looking very sharp.
Interesting comment that Biggsy was given a go. He's the only keeper out of him and Sozynski that has played prem league in the last couple of years so could be the number 1?
soz played for eagles in 2008
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