Spotlight falls on winners Taroona and Olympia at KGV Park tonight

Photo:  The camera-shy Taroona break ranks before a team photo can be snapped [PlessPix]

Taroona beat South East United 4-1 and Olympia Warriors downed Beachside 3-0 in two Championship Summer Cup games at KGV Park tonight.

I didn’t think for a while that the second game would go ahead as the floodlights were still not on by the time the Taroona versus South East United game ended.

The second game was scheduled to kick off at 8.15pm and, thankfully, the floodlights started firing up at 8pm after Football Tasmania’s referee manager, Tony Peart, appeared on the scene.

During the second half, some of the lights went out, but apparently Tony Peart fixed that problem.

I am reliably informed that the previous evening (Sunday), the lights came on at 8pm, well after the second game had finished, and stayed on until 10.30pm.

It would appear, therefore, that the lights have a timing switch that regulates when they come on.  What a waste of money for them to be on while no games are being played.

Now, to the two games.

Photo:  South East United's Michael Charlton-Fitzgerald juggles the ball on his head while under pressure from a Taroona opponent [PlessPix]

South East United gave as good as they got in the opening half against Taroona and might easily have had a couple of goals midway through the half.

Taroona’s Japanese player, Kanato Hamaguchi did have the ball in the net direct from a free-kick, but Matthew Oh was right next to the keeper and obstructing his view and the effort was disallowed for off-side.

In the 36^th minute, South East United’s persistence paid off when left-back Jackson Ebini ran half the length of the field and exchanged a couple of one-touch passes with Thomas Iokose before shooting past Keeper Kieran Siedler to give his side the lead.

Photo:  Taroona's Kanato Hamaguchi in possession and eluding South East United's Hugh Fletcher [PlessPix]

Toby Dove equalised for Taroona five minutes before the interval and then gave his side the lead in the 65^th minute with his second goal of the evening.

William Darling then netted a brace.   His first came from a volley the 67^th minute following a corner, while in the 80^th minute he skilfully stabbed home a left-wing cross with the outside of his right foot to give Taroona a 4-1 victory.

Photo:  Olympia's Austin Yost looks for a pass from midfield [PlessPix]

Olympia took the lead against Beachside through a penalty converted by Teddy Kadisha on the quarter-hour.

Olympia lost forward Kyle Vincent with a suspected dislocated shoulder before the first 45 minutes were complete.

In the second half, Brayton Allan nodded home a corner in the 62^nd minute to make it 2-0.

In the 71^st minute, Evan Arnold hit Olympia’s third from inside the box and inside the left-hand post to complete the win.

Photo:  Beachside's Adam Lapolla tackles Olympia's Koby Moschogianis [PlessPix]

Photo:  Olympia's Teddy Kadisha (extreme left and partly obscured) scores a penalty to give his side the lead [PlessPix]

Photo:  Olympia's Austin Yost is tackled by a Beachside defender [PlessPix]

Photo:  The injured Kyle Vincent is assisted to the dressing room by Michael Moschogianis [PlessPix]

Photo:  Beachside's Ben Whitehall in possession and with Olympia's Austin Yost in hot pursuit [PlessPix]