Sunday, February 2, 2020

South Hobart have a difficult season coming up after heavy loss to Pascoe Vale


Photo:  South Hobart's Kasper Hallam (right) in a duel with Pacoe Vale's Pim de Jonge [PlessPix]

(Pre-season Friendly, South Hobart Oval, Saturday, 1 February 2020)

South Hobart 1 (K Hallam 27)
Pascoe Vale 8 (A Ofli 23, J Byrnes 24, 26, P De Jonge 60, J Matthews 70, J Youseff 75, J Bartels 82. K McGeachy 85)

HT:  1-3   Att:  250

South Hobart:  Moncur;  Evans, Atfield, Larby, Kemp, Lakoseljac, Walpole, Berezansky, R Morton, Hallam, Herweynen  (Subs:  Webert (GK), Bastock, Kurdistan, Juju, Tooze, Taylor)

Pascoe Vale:  Tapia;  Vakirtziz, Tacarico, De Jonge, Mustaganic, Rahimi, Eyigun, Bartels, Byrnes, Ofli, Youseff  (Subs:  Pierias, Matthews, McGeachy)

Photo:  Pascoe Vale (left) and South Hobart line up before yesterday's game [PlessPix]

Last year at this time and at this venue, the visiting Pascoe Vale scraped home 1-0 against South Hobart.

When the teams met in Melbourne, Pascoe Vale triumphed 3-1.

On Saturday at South Hobart Oval, Pascoe Vale, from the Victorian National Premier League 2 competition, thrashed South Hobart 8-1 after leading 3-1 at half-time.

Both teams were different to last year.  This was particularly so in regard to South Hobart, who have lost as many as nine senior players from last season’s line-up.

Pascoe Vale’s most notable absentee was Davey V’ant Schip, who has moved to Essendon Royals.  He was injured in last year’s game at South Hobart Oval after just 20 minutes and had to be replaced.

The visitors were also without Hakeem al-Araibi, the Bahreini footballer at the centre of an international dispute last year when he was arrested in Thailand and was faced with the possibility of extradition to Bahrein.  His wife was ill so he did not make the trip to Hobart.  South Hobart had organised public support for him last season when he was being held in a Bangkok gaol and the possibility of an appearance by him in yesterday’s game was a significant drawcard, but one which didn’t turn out as planned.

Photo:  Pascoe Vale captain Joseph Youseff squeezes past South Hobart's Ewan Larby and Reilly Morton [PlessPix]

Saturday’s defeat must surely rank as the heaviest for South Hobart with Ken Morton as coach.

Morton was not too despondent.  He said the first half had been pleasing, but with the second-half changes disrupting the side somewhat, his team found the going tough as they conceded five goals.

South Hobart probably had the better of the opening exchanges and created some good chances.  Kasper Hallam was lively and he was lucky to escape injury when he was put through, only for goalkeeper Gian Tapia to come off his line and spread himself to block the ball.  Hallam did not pull out and cartwheeled over the keeper after a strong collision between the pair.

Tapia also saved brilliantly from a powerful South Hobart shot from 20 metres.

Photo:  South Hobart goalkeepers Mark Moncur (left) and new American import Chase Webert [PlessPix]

At the other end, South Hobart’s veteran keeper Mark Moncur demonstrated he still ahs the requisite skills of a goalkeeper.  Twice he saved one-on-on situations as Pascoe Vale threatened to score.

The breakthrough came in the 23rd minute when right-footed left-winger Atilla Ofli cut inside and chipped Moncur from range to give the visitors the lead.

That opened the floodgates and three more goals followed in as many minutes.

Ofli twice fed right winger Jacob Byrnes down the inside-right channel and he finished clinically in the 24th and 26th minutes to give Pascoe Vale a 3-0 lead.

A minute later and it was South Hobart’s turn as Hallam ran on to Mason Atfield’s pass to pull a goal back for the home side.

Photo:  Chase Webert saw plenty of action in the second half on his debut for South Hobart [PlessPix] 

Photo:  Webert is beaten by Pascoe Vale's Jesse Matthews [PlessPix]

South Hobart’s American import goalkeeper Chase Webert, who has been playing in Finland, replaced Moncur at half-time and he was given a hot reception in Hobart after the cold winter in Europe.

He conceded five goals in what was certainly a baptism of fire, but it was definitely not an indication of his ability.  Pascoe Vale cut through the South Hobart defence with relative ease and Webert was often left unprotected.

Pim de Jonge scored Pascoe Vale’s fourth on the hour by heading home a corner from the right, while 10 minutes later, substitute Jesse Matthews converted a pass from substitute Ben Pibrias to make it 5-1.

Photo:  South Hobart's Tobias Herweynen (left) in pursuit of Pascoe Vale's Jip Bartels [PlessPix]

Joseph Youseff fired home the sixth from the edge of the box in the 75th minute to extend the visitors’ lead to 6-1.

With 8 minutes remaining, Jip Bartels chipped home goal number 7, while 5 minutes from the end, substitute Kyle McGeachy completed the scoring at 8-1.

It must be with some foreboding that South Hobart now prepare for the return game in Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time.

Photo:  Pascoe Vale's Atilla Ofli has the South Hobart defence on the run [PlessPix] 


Photo:  Webert is beaten by Joseph Youseff [PlessPix]


Photo:  Kyle McGeachy sends a bullet past Webert [PlessPix]

Photo:  South Hobart's Robin Kurdistan (right) tries to catch Pascoe Vale's Aydin Mustaganic [PlessPix]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

South will finish in the top half of the table.

They'll upset a few teams.

Anonymous said...

Still the only club prepared to go to efforts to promote the game
locally and by travelling away to test themselves again against better
opponents. Probably says more about the other clubs really. Those prepared to
sit on their backside and do just enough to satisfy expectations .
Problem is that they are satisfying expectations that are well below what is
required to be successful.
South are always pushing and striving.
By the way I am not a South supporter either.