Sunday, March 17, 2019

Zebras snatch a draw against Olympia with controversial late equaliser


Photo:  Olympia's Jonathon Ladic gets a pass away despite the attentions of Zebras' Ryu Yonezawa [PlessPix]


(NPL Tasmania, North Hobart Oval, Sunday, 17 March 2019)

Hobart Zebras 2 (M Sanders 54 pen, A McKeown 89)
Olympia Warriors 2 (J Ryan 32, J Scott 79)

HT:  0-1   Att:  300   Ref:  S Plomaritis

Hobart Zebras:  Whatman  -  Walsh (Robinson 83), Charuza, Fagg, Dillon  -  Muller (Burt 70), Yonezawa, Hey, Edwards  -  Pace (McKeown 66), Sanders  (Subs not used:  Ackerley, Reid)

Olympia Warriors:  McDonald  -  Kurtz, Hill (Vendermey 90), Stevens, Ortmann  -  Curtis (Thompson 63), Ladic, Scott, Allan (Mearns 63)  -  Ryan, Nkoso  (Subs not used:  Leaman, Randall)

Photo:  Jordan Scott is congratulated by team-mates after putting Olympia 2-1 ahead [PlessPix]

Olympia Warriors led twice in this match, only to be pegged back by Hobart Zebras and forced to share the points in the end.

The second Zebras goal, in the 89th minute, was tinged in controversy.  Zebras substitute Adam McKeown rose with Olympia’s Lucas Hill to contest a high ball and Hill went down with a head injury.  The ball dropped for McKeown, who volleyed it home to make it 2-2.

It appears that Hill, the Olympia skipper, has a broken nose.  He was replaced by Jake Vandermey, but neither side could grab a winner in the 5 minutes of stoppage time.

Zebras were without Luke Huigsloot, who was unavailable, and Thomas Little, who was suspended, but they still had a formidable line-up.  Henry Fagg came in at centre-back.


Photo:  Olympia's Joffery N'Koso under pressure from Zebras' Jan Charuza [PlessPix]

Olympia dropped Nick Mearns and Jake Vandermey to the bench and gave starts to Brayton Allan and Ben Curtis.

Jonathan Ladic almost gave Olympia the lead in the 18th minute, but his chip from range was turned onto the crossbar by Zebras keeper Sam Whatman.

The Warriors took the lead in the 32nd minute when Jack Ryan headed home Jordan Scott’s corner from close range after poor defending by Zebras and that’s how it stayed until half-time.

Nine minutes after the resumption, Ryan appeared to bring down Jordan Muller as Riley Dillon floated a corner over from the right and Mr Plomaritis awarded a penalty, which was converted by Mathew Sanders to make it 1-1.

Photo:  Olympia goalkeeper Kyle McDonald is beaten by Mathew Sanders's penalty [PlessPix]

The game appeared destined for a draw, but 11 minutes from the end, Scott hammered home the loose ball after Whatman parried Jake Thompson’s right-wing cross straight to his feet.

Zebras got out of jail with that controversial equaliser a minute before the end of the regulation 90 minutes.

The draw saw Olympia climb one place to third, while Zebras remain fifth.

There was little atmosphere in the vast surrounds of North Hobart Oval, with the spectators far from the action.  The grass also appeared a little long and the line markings were not as visible as at previous games at this venue.

Photo:  Olympia skipper Lucas Hill with his nose heavily bandaged [PlessPix]

Hobart Zebras coach, David Smith, said:

“I think we were just too slow to get the ball forward.  We had a lot of possession but we just didn’t create enough in the front-third.  We were comfortable in the back-third.

“Their first goal was a good header, but their second was a shocker.  We had about 44 attempts to clear it and we didn’t clear it.

“It was good to see us come back twice., but we just didn’t create enough chances to win it.  We had enough possession, but we just didn’t look dangerous going forward.

“We’ve just got to keep working on things.  It’s just unfortunate that we lack a cutting edge at the moment.”

Photo:  Olympia's Nick Mearns and Zebras' Lachie Burt stretch for the ball [PlessPix]

Olympia Warriors assistant coach, Andrew Tye, said:

“The game was there to win and we did enough to win it.  We were one-nil up and gave away a free and then a penalty from the set-piece.

“We went 2-1 up and I think [their equaliser] was a contentious goal.  Lucas [Hill] has ended up with what appears to be a broken nose.  Six-foot four and a head injury.  You can’t do anything about it but it was 2 points lost.

“I don’t think it’s a set-back in terms of ladder position.  When we look at the season, we looks at blocks of four, and the first four games, it was organised for us to play four of the top five at the time.  Until this game, we lost a close one away to Devonport.  This one, if we’d won it, think that would have been a good result for that first block of four.

“We hit the crossbar with a chip and there were a few other opportunities, but we know we have to aim for that clean sheet and score more goals.

Photo:  Zebras coach David Smith tries to calm down Olympia's Jordan Scott after the game.  Scott appeared irate about the controversial equaliser. [PlessPix]

NPL Tasmania (As at 17 March 2019)

TEAM
P
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
Devonport City
3
3
0
0
7
1
9
South Hobart
4
2
1
1
9
5
7
Olympia Warriors
4
2
1
1
7
5
7
Kingborough Lions
3
2
0
1
11
3
6
Hobart Zebras
3
1
2
0
12
3
5
Glenorchy Knights
3
1
0
2
6
8
3
Launceston City
2
0
0
2
2
7
0
Riverside Olympic
2
0
0
2
2
7
0
Clarence United
2
0
0
2
0
17
0

Photo:  Zebras' defender Henry Fagg tackles Olympia's Jack Ryan [PlessPix]

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ladder Predictions after witnessing most teams in action a few times:
Devonport
South Hobart
Olympia
Zebras
Knights
Launceston City
Kingborough
Riverside
Clarence

Anonymous said...

How on earth were Jordan Scott and Lucas Hill allowed to scream and shout at the referee without even a yellow card? How is this fair when any other player would've been at least booked, if not sent off. The refereeing in Tasmania is so inconsistent and they should be held accountable. They aren't volunteers, they get paid to do it.

Anonymous said...

The referees give the softest decisions in most cases, yet Lucas Hill gets his nose broken in the build up to the last goal and no foul? No wonder the refs cop it so much.

Anonymous said...

It would have been good if the referee had been interviewed to give his vision on incident.like they do in some parts of Europe

Anonymous said...

Lucky hill wasn't sent off for head butting mckeown .

Anonymous said...

How did Scott and Hill get away with spraying the refs? Probably because the refs saw Hill's nose splattered across his face and realised they made a mistake in not calling a foul and changing the result of the game. That's how.