Sunday, January 23, 2011

Melbourne Knights win second match in Tasmania comfortably



















Photos (Top to Bottom): Melbourne Knights' Amadu Koroma watches as his cheeky back-heeler comes back off the far post before being cleared; Goalkeeper Cameron Sweeney and centre-back Alex Holmes stop a Melbourne Knights attack; The Melbourne Knights line-up; Match officials (L-R) were assistant referee Stratos Plomaritis, referee Sean Collins, and assistant referee Richard McCallister; Glenorchy captain Alex Holmes (left) and Melbourne captain Ben Surey at the toss with referee Sean Collins; Alex Nandan shields the ball from a Melbourne opponent; Melbourne Knights got hot under the collar after this tackle by Tom Sherman; Amadu Koroma has a shot at goal; Sean Romein keeps the ball away from Cam Rodgers; Cam Rodgers (right) moves in on Sean Romein; Substitutes Callem Griffin, Mizael Linhares Caires and James Hope warming up; Alex Holmes clears the ball ahead of Amadu Koroma; Declan Foley (No. 8) forces Jason Colosimo to put the ball out of play; Declan Foley cannot get to the ball, which is in the possession of Andy Colosimo; Coaches Nick Harrison and Dean May watch the play; Amadu Koroma leaves Jamie de Smit in his wake; Jacob Huigsloot recovers as Andy Colosimo wins the ball; Ridvan Saglem has a shot at goal [PlessPix]

Glenorchy Knights/NTC Squad 0-7 Melbourne Knights

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Melbourne Knights scored a comfortable 7-0 win over a combined Glenorchy Knights and NTC squad at KGV Park on Sunday afternoon.

It was 3-0 at the interval. The Melbourne outfit then put on some substitutes and three of them scored in the second half to run out comfortable winners. On the chances, they could easily have doubled their tally.

The Tasmanians, again, were brave and combative, but the lack of understanding between the players, brought about by the limited time for preparation, did not help them.

It was local boy Amadu Koroma who put his new club in front in the 13th minute. He almost also scored later in the half with a cheeky back-heeler that hit the inside of the far post but stayed in play.

Jacob Colosimo made it 2-0 in the 41st minute with a powerful low shot from the edge of the box.

Melbourne Knights captain Ben Surey added the third on the stroke of half-time.

In the 51st minute, it was 4-0 through a finely worked goal. Jean Charles Dubois fed Craig Sweeney in the middle and he played the ball wide and into the path of substitute Ridvan Saglam, who advanced on goal and smashed an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net from an angle on the left.

Three minutes later, the busy and skilful Sweeney added the fifth with a low shot inside the far left-hand post from the edge of the box.

Substitute Josip Magdic made it 6-0 second before the hour mark, while Frenchman Dubois completed the scoring in the 75th minute after a low cross from the right by Jacob Colosimo.

The Melbourne Knights keeper was never tested and the home side rarely got a look at goal.

The shop-floor language of some of the visitors caused raised eyebrows and it was unusual that referee Collins booked only one player, and that was for a foul on Corey Smith.

An early reckless tackle by Tom Sherman led to an unsavoury incident near the Melbourne bench, with a player striking Sherman and another person racing off the bench to physically grab Sherman. Both incidents escaped the attention of the officials.

Alex Holmes, Jacob Huigsloot, Corey Smith and Matthew Nowicki had played against Melbourne the previous day and must have been exhausted by the end of this match.

Hugh Foley, Declan Foley, Jamie De Smit, Cameron Sweeney and Alex Nandan had also played the previous day for the NTC and must have felt the pressure.

Dean May, the coach for the day of the combined Glenorchy Knights/NTC squad, said that, in future, a second match for visiting sides during a tour should be played against a truly representative Tasmanian side that was better prepared and which should give local youngsters a chance to catch the eye of the visiting coach, which could lead to development or career opportunities.

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Glenorchy Knights/NTC Squad coach Dean May said:

“At the end of the day, the result wasn’t the object. The object of today’s game was to develop Glenorchy Knights and their understanding of the 4-3-3 system. That’s the system they want to play. That’s the system they asked me to come in and give the boys an experience of.

“As you can see, goals, especially in the first half, the goals came from individual errors. The heads then go down and it’s difficult to keep having the confidence to play the system.

“From my point of view, and certainly from the NTC boys, it was great to see them out there getting that experience.

“To me, Melbourne Knights seemed four gears faster than they were yesterday. Yesterday seemed to be a stroll. To see them out there today, they seemed a different team. I thought their pace, their technical ability was the difference between the teams today.

“There was no coaching at all. There was no opportunity to get in and get training. I think, talking to the clubs, we need next year, when these clubs come over, it’s difficult to get boys who have played a full game the day before to play again. This second game, in my view, should be an opportunity to highlight all of Tasmania, not just one team.

“I thought Paul Stevens, as a 14-year-old, did very well. The same with Cam Rodgers, another 14-year-old, who did well. I thought Cam Sweeney coming back into goals did very well, as did Jamie de Smit. I thought everybody did well. The effort was there, but the technical aspect at times let them down, and that’s the difference between the VPL and Hobart.”

Melbourne Knights coach Ivan Duzel said:

“I think we showed good distribution of the ball, playing to feet, overlapping, and we scored seven goals.

“I was very happy with our second game.

“I saw a couple of promising Tasmanian players. There was number 11 [Alex nandan] and number 12 [Matthew Nowicki], and I’ve already spoken with the big boy at centre-half [Alex Holmes] and I’ve already out his name in my book. Maybe we’ll give him an invitation to come with us for a couple of weeks and we’ll see how he goes over there.

“In the future, we’ll probably look a little more at players over here. There are a lot of good talented kids here.”

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Glenorchy Knights/NTC Squad: Sweeney - Rodgers, Holmes, Huigsloot, J Stevens - D Foley, De Smit, H Foley - Sherman, Smith, Nandan (Subs: Nowicki, Hope, Griffin, Mizael Linhares Caires, P Stevens)

Melbourne Knights: John; Filipovic, Shin, Surey, Cetkin, S Romein, Sweeney, Koroma, A Colosimo, J Colosimo, Dragicevic (Subs: A Romein, Zilic, Alinejad, Magdic, Dubois, Kozic, Saglem, Franjic)

Booked: Surey

Goals: Koroma 13, J Colosimo 41, Surey 45, Saglem 51, Sweeney 54, Magdic 59, Dubois 75

Att: 150

Ref: S Collins

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

as an opposition supporter i hope the knights stick with their 4 - 3 3 points for us formation .

Anonymous said...

No wonder Melb Knights are struggling if guys like Nowicki catch their coach's eye. Has pace and pretty much little else.

Anonymous said...

HI Walter sorry nothing to do with this artical.But news on the coast is Sam Cox has just signed as burnies senoir coach.Worth an interview....

Anonymous said...

Of course when Dean May has his team smashed he said the game the day before Melbourne Knights were not trying as hard. Hahaha what a joke they just looked better because you had kids playing against men and the Knights players who had played 2 games would of been stuffed.

Anonymous said...

ironic that yesterday's match was supposed to be a sterner test for the visitors. Did the inclusion of NTC players weaken the local team?

Anonymous said...

so how does this result compare with Olympia's 0-9?

Anonymous said...

What a luxury for coaches never to have to worry about results.

Anonymous said...

“This second game, in my view, should be an opportunity to highlight all of Tasmania, not just one team."

Everyone I spoke with in the weeks leading up to this game thought it was strange to offer up a Southern Tas team contrived between Harrison and May. The fact is the Knights brought this team over not FFT. Perhaps NTC/TIS/FFT can organise an A League team to come over again but let's have proper trials next time ...

Anonymous said...

If they take Holmsie who have Knights got as a defender?? Googsey might need to make a comeback. lol

djalbacore said...

Dean Mays comments are understandable..., however FFT....should be the ones bringing teams down as in Mariners....not relying on clubs to do the ground work and then trying to muscle in....not sure if this was the case....just a point worth noting...watched the game yesterday and there was no spirit or structural understanding from the knights which did any individual trying to capture the eye of the Melbourne Knights coaching staff....who,s idea was this combined game??

Anonymous said...

Dean May i thought is made to look worse than he is here.

1) firstly, he tried to play a possession game against a better opposition. This isn't silly, just brave and trying to increse the players experience at this level playing against quality opposition.

2) He started Huigy and Holmes. I felt for May as these two players just played 90 minutes against Melb Knights the day before, in a game where these players had it all to do. They looked buggered and lucklustre.

3) How old were May's? 14, 15? Young. Very young. The result the day before was important; Glen vs Melb. However, this game was purely about development, and May states that. Half the team didn't know each other, and another half had never played the system which was expected of them.

Anonymous said...

do you want to try that again dj

Anonymous said...

can't believe they would still be interested in Holmes after sunday he was terrible but Huigy was twice as bad, not suprised he didn't come back after half time

Anonymous said...

Hugie was playing on one leg injured from day before. Holmes looked buggered

Anonymous said...

interesting that neither coach made mention of the incident with Sherman. Sounds very spiteful and not like a "friendly" game spirit

maybe thats because the coachs have the sense to look for positives from the games not negatives like most anon morons who post on here.
sure we got flogged in second game and held on for a fair result in the first - what did you all expect a tasmanian all conquering win - get some brains get some life attend the matchs and be positive because 200 odd people attending these matchs are nothing short of b**l s**t - you lot winge moan complain put others down and you sit at home slagging off others like a bunch of two headed morons when you could be supportive active and loyal to your state and its sportsmen and women - try it you may like it and im sure the bunch of guys out there busting there butts would appreciate it a lot more - well done knights for giving it a go well done fft for being a part of it and well done walter for covering it ,
3 cheers for the positive anons on here

Anonymous said...

Settle down mate....your team can't always win!!!

Anonymous said...

a combined team should wear a neutral strip . seeing nandan in a knights kit was painful . in the paper today he was described as ex tis not as an olympia player .what the #@%$ ?

Anonymous said...

Hip hip old boy...jolly good!! That's the spirit!! Toodle pip!! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Any news on summer cup draw Walter?

Anonymous said...

who cares what strip they wear? the people on this blog are nutcases.

knights organised the trip but asked FFT for help and got nothing so go figure. If your little boy missed out on a game than contact your club and get them off their backsides!

Anonymous said...

While these tours by VPL are most welcome, it strikes me that throwing teams together at the last minute is a bizarre idea that shows little respect to the opposition and makes us look even more amatuerish.

VPL clubs will find other things to do if our SPL clubs can't put in an appropriate amount of planning and preparation into these tours.

Anonymous said...

why does mizael Linhares Caires get a game? there are much better young players, tasmanians too!

djalbacore said...

If the second game from a development point of view to play 4-3-3....it just seemed as a mixed squad it was not worth the effort...only a point of view,,,,

Surf's Up said...

Anon 24 Jan 7.35pm

I agree with your view but I hope youre not including Sth Hobart in those teams that havent prepared for their games enough.

Anonymous said...

agree on the mixed squad but its up to fft to get off their arses and support these events. clubs are too small to be able to organise these events with 2 weeks notice at any higher level. fft should be ashamed of the sunday game, one fft official at the game and not one volunteer to help glenorchy knights with any of it.

Anonymous said...

The prevailing attitude of the respondents on this forum is very depressing. The fact is that we do have the sporting talent here in Tasmania, just look at hockey, rowing, cycling, cricket, afl, athletics, archery, weightlifting, gymnastics, canoeing, sailing, swimming.... the list goes on and on, of sports with state, national and international representatives from Tasmania. There is absolutely no reason that football cannot do the same, let's get on with it!

Surf's Up said...

Anon Jan 25 12.08pm

I'm no apologist for FFT but fair go mate. This was totally Glenorchy Knights' gig, and they had much more than 2 weeks to plan both games and prepare for them.

FFT arent there to assist those individual SPL clubs who want to invite VPL clubs as part of their preseason campaigns. Otherwise every other club would crack it.

On the other hand, FFT did some promotion for both visits, provided the KGV venue and presumably arranged officials which is all anyone should expect. South Hobart and Olympia didnt whinge because they stepped up to the plate.

Anonymous said...

FFT don't own KGV so they didn't provide it , I don't know what you are talking about.

Wouldn't it be in FFT best interest if they helped alot more to promote these games as it generates more interest on football for the Hobart public?

Anonymous said...

surfs up you have no idea and this attitude which is conveyed through fft is exactly why others excel and fft fails

Surf's Up said...

latest anons
sorry guys but if the second game was (unsurprisingly) a failure it was down to the Glen Knights/TIS's lack of planning and focus - wasted opportunity.

Trying to shift the blame is typical of the Knights culture. Corey does it all the time rather than facing up to his own actions.

Surf's Up said...

If FFT are failing it's not in promotion of these tours - it's in not advancing the strategic development of the game by either re-establishing a statewide league, or better still, getting a Tas team in the VPL.

These VPL tours mostly benefit the clubs involved but they arent going to bring new people to the game or bring back those who have given up on it! To achieve that FFT need a strategy linking the good youth development pathways to a higher level or standard of football.

That part of the puzzle is still missing despite much work and $$$'s being spent in recent years on development.

Anonymous said...

Surfs Up ,compare the organisation of the Hellas games and the Melbourne Knights games.The result in lack of support etc lies purely with the organisers ,ie Glenorchy Knights. They were the ones that invited Melbourne over . Others have suggested that FFT should assist ? Why should they ? Look at the turnout for the Hellas game. Great crowd , heaps of food and drink ,ball boys etc .
The Melbourne Knights games were poor, no atmosphere , little to eat and drink with many of the supporters going to the shop next door for food ,no ball boys. Its is not that hard to COPY what was supplied the previous week by the other clubs involved. It seems that the Glenorchy Knights lack forsight ,planning and organisation ability. Thay have some good people involved but maybee need some more bodies to assist.

Anonymous said...

If Melbourne Knights look at A Holmes I will go and buy a hat and eat it. You must be kidding .
Also agree with a previous comment ,M Nowicki has pace and nothing else. No technical ability. Very poor.

Anonymous said...

How do you figure they lack organisation when they bought the side down? ok sth hobart ran a fantastic event with hellas and that is purely because they had 12 months planning, people really are un-educated here, perhaps if the governing body was to help in bringing such events and organising teams to come and supporting events such as this they would then be a bigger spectical.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9.58 27 Jan.
No ball boys ,lack of promotion of the games , lack of support from Croation community. Why is that ? There must be reasons . Clubs arranging visits from interstate clubs has nothing to do with FFT having to assist them. It is a money spinner for the club itself with proceeds of food and drink going to them. If no-one turns up which results in reduced takings , then that is the club's fault. If you do not put in 100% that is what happens.