A goal just after the interval by Simon Tolli gave the visiting North Sunshine Eagles a 1-0 win over Hobart Zebras in a pre-season friendly at South Hobart Oval yesterday.
Eagles were
late in arriving in Tasmania and only got to the ground an hour before kick-off.
They had
the better of the opening half and missed three good chances, through Kazuki
Okada, Ardi Ahmeti and Yoshitatsu Itano.
Photo: Simon Tolli hits the winner for North Sunshine Eagles [PlessPix]
In the 53rd
minute, Eagles produced a fine attack down the right which cut through the
Zebras rearguard and Tolli was left with an easy strike past Zebras keeper Sam
Whatman to give the Victorians the lead.
Zebras
rallied somewhat after that and Matthew Pace should have equalised when faced
with only keeper Zaim Zeneli to beat, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper
from close range.
Substitute
Lachie Burt was then presented with two good chances but shot wide on both
occasions.
Photo: Sunshine's Darren Lewis (left) tries to block a shot from Zebras' fly-in from Melbourne, Mathew Sanders [PlessPix]
In the
final minute, Eagles almost added a second goal when they broke free down the
right, but a last-ditch tackle by Zebras saved the day.
In
yesterday’s NPL Tasmania friendly, Jack Ryan, Olympia Warriors’ English import,
scored all four goals as his side beat South Hobart 4-2.
Photo: Jack Ryan is congratulated by his Olympia team-mates after scoring against South Hobart [PlessPix]
The English
centre-forward produced a powerful, intelligent display, but he will need to
show a little more discipline once the league campaign begins as he was
sometimes in trouble with referee Charles White for arguing or for kicking the
ball away.
Given this
was a friendly, White merely spoke to Ryan and warned him. Had it been a league match, he would surely
have earned a yellow card, if not two.
Photo: Referee Charles White speaks to Jack Ryan about unnecessarily kicking the ball away [PlessPix]
Olympia
took the lead in the 24th minute when Ryan slotted home a penalty,
awarded when Adam Gorrie brought down Joffrey N’Koso.
South
Hobart equalised in the 36th minute.
Bradley Lakoseljac’s excellent header was turned against the crossbar by
keeper Kyle McDonald, but before the Olympia defenders could react, Ben Hamlett
smashed the loose ball home from close range.
Ryan
restored Olympia’s lead in the 59th minute when he was fed down the
inside-right channel and he finished with a low shot that beat keeper Kieran
Brown and lodged inside the far left-hand post.
Photo: Olympia keeper Kyle McDonald saves at the feet of South Hobart's Pajari Sculthorpe [PlessPix]
Poor
defending by Olympia enabled Pajari Sculthorpe to equalise, stroking the ball
home into an empty net from point-blank range after South Hobart had unlocked
Olympia’s defence with an attack down the left flank.
Two
clinical headers by Ryan in the 75th and 82nd minutes
revealed South Hobart’s aerial frailties at the back and gave Olympia an unassailable
4-2 lead.
Sculthorpe
should have ensured a closer finish, but he missed an absolute sitter 5 minytes
from the end.
Photo: Kasper Hallam, in obvious pain, is led from the field by South Hobart assistant coaches Daniel Brown and Brendon Lakoseljac [PlessPix]
South
Hobart, apart from losing this match, were dealt another injury blow when
promising young talent Kasper Hallam suffered a broken collarbone in a collision
with an opponent.
He will not
need to undergo surgery, but the injury will take 6 to 8 weeks to mend.
In an
earlier pre-season friendly against Hobart Zebras at KGV Park, key South Hobart
defender Connor Schmidt broke his leg.
He will miss the entire season.
Olympia
appear a credible force on this display, but they will need to tighten up at
the back.
South
Hobart were without key midfielder Loic Feral, but central defender Oscar
Thomas made an appearance for the first time this season.
Photo: Zebras keeper Nathan Reid is beaten by a South Hobart penalty in the Challenge League game. Reid had saved the penalty but the kick was ordered to be re-taken by the referee. [PlessPix]
The
triple-header program was opened by a Challenge League game between South
Hobart and Hobart Zebras.
South
Hobart completely outclassed Zebras, scoring three times in each half to run
out 6-0 winners.
Sam Tooze
netted twice, while Sam Berezansky, Mason Atfield, Ned Goodsir and Samson Juju
scored a goal apiece.
Former
senior stalwart and captain Hugh Ludford played for South Hobart, which could
be an indication of a senior comeback as coach Ken Morton tries to stiffen up
his senior side’s defence, which is proving somewhat vulnerable.
Photo: Action from the Challenge League game between South Hobart (in red) and Hobart Zebras [PlessPix]
Zebras were
never in the hunt and will need to show dramatic improvement.
Adam
McKeown played for Zebras and appears to have recovered well from a torn
Achilles tendon injury which ended his season prematurely last year.
[Detailed match report later and more photos. Click on photos to see large version.]
[Detailed match report later and more photos. Click on photos to see large version.]
6 comments:
Enjoyed watching Vic state side thought zebs did better when made changes n4 kept giving ball away and you can't do that against higher level.the more technical players you have passing & first touch you able to stop giving the ball away
Great just what the comp needs Another Pommy with an attitude !
Zebras first 11 is great but lack depth from the bench. I know its only early days but they will need to strengthen their bench if they are to win the title.
Their challenge team has a lot of work to do after watching the game v south.
South had some players who can still play 16s and didn't look out of place in which one of them scored a cracker of a goal.
I Loved watching the Albanian team as they played some nice football, easy on the eye.
Gorgeous George better improve his contract. King Kenny would've been on the blower after that display. Terrific display
Lol, Love the photo caption of Kaspar Hallam in ( obvious pain ) pissing themselves laughing ? Think he’s just holding his stomach maybe ? :)
Agree with the comment on Zebras' depth. Mckeown, Burt, Ackerley and the rest in the Challenge team just won;t cut it in NPL anymore.
Looks like another year of Zebras struggling in the youth/underpinning comps
Post a Comment