Glenorchy Knights, South Hobart, Olympia Warriors and
Launceston City are through to the semi-finals of the Lakoseljac Cup
competition after the weekend’s quarterfinals.
Knights won 3-0 away against second-tier Taroona at Kelvedon
Park on Saturday, while holders South Hobart squeezed past fellow NPL Tasmania outfit
Kingborough Lions United 3-2 at home at South Hobart Oval on Sunday.
The only northern side left in the competition, Launceston
City, overpowered Southern Championship reigning champions Hobart United 2-0 at
KGV Park on Saturday, while Olympia Warriors disposed of Championship side
University 2-0 at home at Warrior Park on Sunday.
Given the leagues the various combatants are playing in, it
came as no surprise that there were no giant-killing feats.
All the semi-finalists are from the top-tier NPL Tasmania
competition.
Glenorchy Knights had to fight for their win over Taroona
and their three goals came in the space of 8 minutes just before the interval.
Taroona had been somewhat fortunate to hold out the Knights
in the opening 20 minutes and their defenders used toes, legs, heads and feet
and just about every other part of their anatomy to keep the visitors
scoreless.
Photo: South Hobart's Andy Brennan (left) gets a touch ahead of Kingborough's Luke Bighin [PlessPix]
The tide finally turned in favour of Knights just before
half-time and it was youngster Cade Smith who was at the heart of everything
and he played a part in all three goals.
In the 37th minute, Smith’s cross from the left
was headed home by Nick Naden to break the ice and give Knights the lead.
Four minutes later, it was Smith who was upended by Taroona
keeper Kieran Siedler to earn his side a penalty, which was despatched with
ease by Alex Walter to make it 2-0.
On the stroke of half-time, Walter added the Knights’ third
when he tapped home the rebound after Smith’s effort had been blocked.
Photo: Knights' Alex Walter crosses as Taroona's Dominic Easton tries to block [PlessPix]
Taroona started the second half strongly and could easily
have scored at least twice as the Knights defence teetered on the edge, but
poor finishing and some good goalkeeping by Lachlan Hart denied the home side.
Knights have now got their bad game behind them and will
need to produce their best when they play the semi-final against an as yet
undetermined opponent.
Launceston City are proving to be cup specialists and in
this competition they have discarded their poor league form.
They disposed of North-West Coast giants Devonport City in
the Round-of-16, and on Saturday they knocked out the reigning Southern league
champions, Hobart United.
The return to the side of Noah Mies, their ace marksman,
made a world of difference.
Mies scored the first in the 16th minute with a
powerful finish from just inside the box after a fine run down the right by Sam
Ridgard, who served the chance up on a platter for the deadly young striker.
In the 23rd minute, Mies turned provider when he
played a ball from the left into the path of Charlie Dyer, who hammered it home
to make it 2-0.
Hobart United pressed strongly in the second half, but a fine,
confident and brave display of goalkeeping by Daniel Nash, and a resolute defending
by his back-four, kept United at bay.
“We were pleased to get the win and, most importantly, a
clean sheet,” said Launceston City coach, Roger Hardwicke.
“We got two good goals and they kept us honest in the second
half.
“We had the chance to kill it off, but they threatened and
out us under pressure by I think we ended really well and it was great for the
lads to have a win.
“On to the semis now.”
Kingborough Lions United should have scored in the opening
minute of the game against South Hobart, but Chris Downes blazed over the bar from
close range. Had he scored, it could
have been the game changer in the end.
As it was, Kingborough still took the lead when, in the 10th
minute, left-back Joel Sammut unleashed a tremendous shot from range that
cannoned off the left-hand post and off the back of diving goalkeeper Nathan
Reid and into the net.
Toby Herweynen, a former Kingborough player, equalised in
the 36th minute when he ran onto Kobe Kemp’s inch-perfect pass over
the defence and down the right.
Herweynen cut in towards goal and beat keeper Lee Mackie with a low
drive inside the far left-hand post.
Bradley Lakoseljac put South Hobart in front in the 54th
minute for a goal that was almost ruled out for off-side. Referee Monty Piesse consulted assistant referee
Tony Peart twice amid some confusion before allowing the goal.
American import Davis Bryan equalised for Kingborough in
the 62nd minute after a couple of shots were blocked and the ball
eventually rebounded to him just inside the box.
With 15 minutes remaining, Sammut, the hero of Kingborough’s
opening goal, turned villain. First, he
scored an own-goal when he deflected Nick Morton’s header into his own net to
give South Hobart winning 3-2 lead, and in the final minute he brought down Sam
Tooze and was sent off.
Olympia Warriors were never troubled by University on the artificial
surface of Warrior Park, where Callum Brown, back in the Warriors fold after two
weeks’ absence following the dismissal of his father, Andrew, as coach, created
both goals.
His cross from the right in the 20th minute was
headed home by Jake Vandermay, while his delivery from the left just short of
the hour-mark saw Nick Mearns bravely dive full length to head home the second.
The semi-final draw will be conducted later this week.
9 comments:
Never troubled is perhaps slighty harsh on Uni. Olympia controlled the possession and moved the ball well and Uni played on the break for the majority of the game but there were definite periods where if they had Olympia under the pump and if they were more clinical could have got a goal or two
That said, was very impressed by Mwrarabu in the middle for Olympia did a lot of good things he and Mearns really set the bar for that game. Would like to see more of him in the league.
Watched all the games and would have to say that surprisingly Launceston City looked the best not sure why they can’t carry this sort of play over to the NPL but hopefully this will give them a kick Knights were very average and played a terrible long ball for most of the first half apart for 10 minutes where they decided to play and scored 3 I would suggest they should find someone other than their captain to play the ball forward as his delivery was predictable and usually wayward. South were ok but it was a backward step dropping the kids for Andy and Gillie I didn’t see one second effort between the two of them perhaps they should earn their spots and not play on reputations, Kingborough battled hard but it’s a worry when you’re depending on free kicks which they got plenty of to score their goals ... they just had nothing up front McKeown was absent though. Olympia Uni match never reached any great heights but good to see young Curtis back in the side hopefully he gets a good run... anyway that’s my two bobs worth and was nice to have top level men’s games on both Saturday and Sunday for a change
I’m not sure why the Clebras would have let the young Clarence junior Smith go to the Knights this year as there is no talent up front at Clebras now , that was real dumb !
Agreed with top comment at 8.42pm. Very different game than I was watching Walter! Olympia had not had a shot before their goal and could only turn the ball over to Uni when attempting to find an opening. Sam Platts, MacGregor and Samuel Fahey all went beyond the Olympia defence and through on goal but did not convert. I was impressed with Uni who stayed compact, stayed determined, defended well and showed enough going forward to suggest they'd be okay in the NPL. Especially if you throw Roach and Undy into the mix, who did not play yesterday. For Olympia Callum Brown and Joseph Mwarabaru in the middle were excellent and young Mamic on the right wing who debuted was very exciting!
Great action shots, Walter.
Did you get any of the new facilities at Taroona? I haven't been down there this season. What did you think of the upgrade?
Interesting that comments about Andy Brennan's performances have been removed Walter. Most players have been fair game on this site, and from what I saw, there was no abuse or malice in it.
Why are we picking and choosing which players can be criticised on here??
Hobart utd beat uni the week before comfortably!
Seems anything said about South is censored. That said Walter has no loyalty to them either. Curiouser and curiouser.
It is the deep state. Make sure you wear your tinfoil hat.
Post a Comment