Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Devonport retain Lakoseljac Cup with win over South Hobart

Photo:  The game was very physical at times.  Here, Devonport's Taylor Last upends South substitute Jayden Hey. [PlessPix]
(Lakoseljac Cup Final, KGV Park, Monday, 13 June 2022)

South Hobart 0

Devonport Strikers 3 (A Dulleh 45+1, R Fernandez-Garrido 65, 68)

HT:  0-1   Att:  800   Ref:  B Kopra

South Hobart:  Hayers  -  Herweynen, Bighin, Feral, Semmler  -  Lancaster, N Morton, Lakoseljac (Higgins 46)  -  Berezansky (Hey 68), Divin, Van Doorne  [Subs not used:  Atfield, Reid [GK], R Morton]

Devonport Strikers:  K Smith  -  Parke, Mulraney, Barton  -  Moradi, Last, C Bidwell, Stone (Mohammadi 70), Andrews (Kidmas 92)  -  Fernandez-Garrido, Dulleh (Denehey 76)  [Subs not used:  Pearce (GK), Smith]

Photo:  Devonport display the trophy. [PlessPix]  

Devonport Strikers retained the Lakoseljac Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over South Hobart before a large crowd at KGV Park on Monday.

It was not a great game, with both sides failing to string together many consecutive passes.  They relied on their physical attributes much of the time rather than on finesse, although there were glimpses of individual skill, mainly from Devonport’s Roberto Fernandez-Garrido and Ali Dulleh, and South Hobart’s Iskander Van Doorne.

The closest South came to scoring in the opening half was a shot from range by Van Doorne that was parried wide for a throw-in by Keegan Smith, the Devonport keeper.

On the stroke of half-time, Devonport took a surprise lead when Dulleh broke down the left and got onto the end of a Joel Stone pass.  He was tackled by a desperate Tobias Herweynen, who only managed to touch the ball onto Dulleh’s foot and, almost without knowing it, the Devonport winger touched the ball through the legs of the advancing South Hobart keeper, Jake Hayers, and into the net.

Photo:  Devonport celebrate a goal with their fans. [PlessPix]  

Early in the second half, South threatened an equaliser but Devonport keeper Smith denied Luke Bighin’s header.

That was it for South Hobart and their long clearances aimed at quick counter-attacks were easily snuffed out by Devonport.

Two goals in three minutes just past the half-way mark of the second half extinguished any chance South may have had of salvaging the match.

Garrido slotted home his side’s second after collecting a long clearance from Connor Parke and cutting in from the right in the 65th minute, while in the 68th minute, he netted from the penalty spot to make it 3-0.  Herweynen and Loic Feral were adjudged to have sandwiched an brought down Dulleh to concede the penalty.  Hayers seemed to get a slight touch to the soft spot-kick but could not keep it out.

Hayers later made a fine save in a one-on-one with Garrido to keep the scored at 3-0.

Photo:  Nick Morton caught between Devonport's Toby Barton and Fahim Moradi. [PlessPix]  

Devonport will now represent Tasmania in the Round-of-32 of the Australia Cup competition.

“We didn’t play as well as I would have liked us to have done, but in probably 30 minutes of football we stepped it up and played our best football that we’re capable of,” said Devonport Strikers coach, Tom Ballantyne.

“We scored the goals that we should have done.  In that last 10 minutes of play in the first half we dominated and could probably have scored another goal in that last 10 minutes.  I felt we were really all over South.

“In the second half, we came out and suffered a bit as they put us under pressure.

Photo:  A snow-covered Mt Wellington on the day of the cup final. [PlessPix]  

“They were chasing lots, but I think they had one shot on goal in the whole game and, in the second half, after Robbie scored the penalty, we probably should have scored another two to be fair.

“It wouldn’t have flattered us, a four- or five-goal margin in that game.

“The guys played really well.  We’ve got to get better at playing the brand of football we want to play.

“When South come out and play the sort of direct football that they do and transition very fast, it’s hard to get the ball down and play how you want to play.  But, that’s a credit to South for coming out and making it a difficult game.

“I don’t see why the Round-of-32 of the Australia Cup won’t go ahead now with everything that’s going on.  I can’t see why it wouldn’t go ahead.”

Photo:  South's Loic Feral and Bradley Lakoseljac try to deal with Devonport's Roberto Fernandez Garrido. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  South's Iskander Van Doorne clashes with Devonport's Connor Parke. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  South's skipper Nick Morton attacks down the right wing. [PlessPix]
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to see the scoreboard and sound system in good working order for the big day!

Anonymous said...

Walked into the ground just before half-time of the women's cup final. Thought Kingborough had done a good job to keep the score at 0-0. Then realised the scoreboard had gone the same way as half the lights at the ground, the changerooms, the grandstand and the liquor licence for the day.
Surely FT had some sort of manual scoreboard floating about the office they could have put up on the fence on the far side of the ground?