Devonport City established themselves as favourites to win the 2019 NPL Tasmania title by beating South Hobart 1-0 away at South Hobart Oval on Sunday.
The win
puts the title-holders 2 points clear of second-placed Olympia Warriors and 5
points ahead of third-ranked South Hobart.
Devonport
have won all six of their games and have scored 19 goals while conceding just
one.
South
Hobart should have won Sunday’s game on the chances, and after dominating for
most of the second half.
But,
Devonport absorbed the pressure and their goalkeeper, Nathan Pitchford, saved
their bacon with three brilliant saves.
Photo: Nathan Pitchford, a qualified physiotherapist, is assessed for injury by Devonport's physio as referee Tony Peart looks on [PlessPix]
Pitchford’s
bravery, agility and reflexes thwarted South Hobart, who should have scored
twice through Canadian import, substitute Iskander Van Doorne.
Van
Doorne was through for a one-on-one with Pitchford in the second half and a
goal seemed certain, but his tame finish was easily saved by Pitchford.
And,
when Van Doorne was presented with an open goal, also in the second half,
requiring just a tap-in, he somehow hit the crossbar.
These
two chances alone should have given the home side victory, let alone other
chances that fell to Darcy Hall, Jack Turner and Alex Walter.
Hall
went off with a groin injury after just a quarter of an hour. This was a blow for South and his replacement
Van Doorne proved to be not up to the task.
One can only wonder why South Hobart coach Ken Morton didn’t throw on
one of his promising youngsters.
The
match was a physical, fiery affair and the quality of football was not great.
Devonport
have always revelled in such an environment where teams slog it out and once
again they came up with a shock winner.
Photo: Miles Barnard (second from left) heads Devonport's winner [PlessPix]
Fifteen
minutes from the end, South Hobart conceded a corner, which was taken by Joel
Stone. Substitute Miles Barnard seemed
to attract the ball like a magnet in the crowded goalmouth and his downward
header bounced into the roof of the net for what proved to be the winner.
South
Hobart are at their most dangerous in the closing stages of a match, especially
when they are trailing.
In
stoppage time, they appeared to have found an equaliser when fullback Tobias
Herweynen unleashed a thunderbolt headed for the top left-hand corner of the
net. Pitchford, however, launched
himself into the air and was horizontal as he tipped the ball over the bar to
preserve his side’s lead.
That was
the last throw of the dice for South Hobart and it was 3 points lost. They have also played one game more than
Devonport.
Olympia
Warriors are second after a last-gasp win away to Launceston City. It took an 86-t minute goal from substitute
Joseph Mulungula to give Olympia a 1-0 win against their hosts, who are
second-last.
Photo: Devonport's Kieran Mulraney (right) beats South Hobart's Darcy Hall to a header. Hall was substituted because of a groin injury after just 15 minutes. [PlessPix]
Hobart
Zebras were firing blanks last week when they drew 2-2 at home against their
sister Italian-backed club Launceston City.
This
Saturday, they used real ammunition and blew Riverside Olympic away 9-0 at
Windsor Park in Launceston.
Mathew
Sanders, their fly-in from Melbourne, had a disappointing game against
Launceston City last weekend when he missed numerous chances.
Against
Riverside, Sanders rediscovered his scoring touch and weighed in with four
goals, including a penalty.
Jordan
Muller, back from injury, opened the scoring, while the other goals came from Matthew
Pace, Nicky Edwards, Riley Dillon and James Ackerley.
Photo: South Hobart's Tobias Herweynen launches himself into a tackle against Devonport's Edward Bidwell [PlessPix]
In the
opening match of the round at KGV Park on Friday night, a toothless Kingborough
Lions United went down 4-1 away to newcomers to the top flight, Glenorchy
Knights.
Danny
Cowen gave the Lions the lead with a penalty after a quarter of an hour, but
Knights led 2-1 at the interval through goals by Declan Brown and Mathew
Nowicki.
Second-half
goals by Brown and Nowicki completed an emphatic win for the Knights.
Bottom-side
Clarence United were able to lick their numerous wounds as they had the bye.
They
have lost their half a dozen games to date and have yet to score, while
conceding 53 goals. To say this is disastrous
is an understatement.
Photo: South Hobart's Oscar Thomas and Loic Feral fight for possession against a Devonport opponent [PlessPix]
NPL
Tasmania (As at 7 April 2019)
TEAM
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
Devonport City
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
19
|
1
|
18
|
Olympia
Warriors
|
7
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
22
|
5
|
16
|
South Hobart
|
7
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
25
|
6
|
13
|
Hobart Zebras
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
26
|
5
|
12
|
Glenorchy Knights
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
17
|
14
|
10
|
Kingborough Lions
|
5
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
12
|
10
|
6
|
Riverside Olympic
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
15
|
3
|
Launceston City
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
7
|
14
|
2
|
Clarence United
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
53
|
0
|
10 comments:
Top five teams pull away from those that make up the numbers already and the season is only a few games old. Same four at the top and in another few weeks the Knights will drop off and the standings will be a clear top four and bottom five with the two new teams in the league and the other clubs who normally just make up the bottom half, in the bottom five. There must be something seriously wrong when the same teams make up the top four and the remaining teams the bottom half year after year with the gap between fourth and the rest never seeming to close up. There is always a huge gulf between them.
Anonymous 1 - Like every league in the world you space cadet...
And in what way would that be different to any other league in the world?
Literally happens in every league in the world...
Very much enjoyed South/Port on the weekend, two very evenly matched teams separated by having the option of putting a player on who is genuinely different and has a skillset that no one on South has, maybe Leszcynski offers that different dimension but the rest of the attackers, Hall, Van Doorne, Walter etc. are all good players but quite similar in how they do it. South still should have had at least one goal but the other thing that is apparent is how well Devonport defend, which they had to do a lot of in the second half when the wind picked up.
Anonymous 1
Wow, really.
Resources and how these are used means who will usually finish higher. Simples.
My point was that the league is only a few weeks old and the gap is obvious so early. The other point is that it is the same 4 teams at the top every year Not necessarily the case in all leagues every year with the exact same
teams at the top every year.
Devonport are the first ones to moan when they get touched but Stone and Mullraney should not have remained on the pitch
South very hard done by and the better team didnt win
Tasmanian soccer memes quote & picture.love it so funny
That's football man utd 27% possession and beat PsG 3-1
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