Devonport Strikers showed why they are worth 2022 NPL Tasmania champions by blowing away second-placed South Hobart 3-0 at South Hobart Oval on Saturday.
South Hobart had no answers to Devonport’s charge and were very disappointing in both attack and defence.
The mind games began before kick-off.
Quite correctly, South Hobart formed a guard of honour for the champions as they came down the players’ race and onto the pitch.
But, Devonport then formed their pre-match team huddle in South Hobart’s usual half of the pitch.
South’s Jayden Hey stuck his head into the Devonport huddle for a brief second before joining his team-mates in their huddle in the same half of the pitch as Devonport.
Whether the fact they didn’t have their half of the pitch to themselves before kick-off peeved South Hobart, it was difficult to tell, but it certainly defied convention and was a bit of an affront to the home side.
South Hobart were under pressure from the start and they fell behind as early as the 5th minute when a stupid shirt-pull by a defender in the box gifted the visitors a penalty, which was duly despatched by the league’s leading scorer, Roberto Fernandez Garrido.
It stayed 1-0 until the break and South Hobart rarely looked as if they would get back into this game.
Garrido had one more chance before half-time when he broke through, but with only the goalkeeper to beat, he shot wide.
Nick Lanau-Atkinson made it 2-0 with a simple finish on the hour after breaking through the South Hobart defence down the right.
Another needless penalty in the 78th minute gave Garrido his second goal of the match and took his season’s tally to 18 goals in 16 league games.
On Friday night, Kingborough Lions United scraped home 2-1 against Olympia Warriors at Clennett’s Lightwood Park.
Tyson Barrett gave Olympia the leas after just 7 minutes when the Lions failed to deal with a corner by Samuel Cummins from the right.
Declan Taylor equalised in the 19th minute after Alfred Hess’s long ball out of defence had created a chance for Adam McKeown, whose shot was parried by goalkeeper Mitch Stalker.
The Warriors’ defence failed to clear, enabling Taylor to fire home from the edge of the box.
The winner came in the 23rd minute when Noah Mies was put away with a long ball out of defence by Matt Hess and the lanky striker easily outpaced Jake Vandermey before beating Stalker.
Clarence Zebras made absolutely sure of avoiding the wooden spoon when they downed bottom-side Riverside Olympic 1-0 at home at Wentworth Park with a 40th minute goal from the rejuvenated striker Dwayne Walsh.
Glenorchy Knights made sure of fourth place by downing Launceston City 2-1 away at Buckby Motors Park in Launceston.
After a scoreless opening half, Knights were jolted by an Albert Amankwaa goal 4 minutes into the second period.
But, the promising young striker Lucas Djalakowski, who had scored twice last week, equalised for Knights in the 70th minute.
Five minutes later, Daniel Schmidt hit the winner for the visitors to make sure of at least fourth spot, and a possibility of second, with two games remaining.
NPL Tasmania Standings (As at 27 August 2022)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
Devonport Strikers |
19 |
17 |
1 |
1 |
62 |
10 |
52 |
|
South Hobart |
19 |
12 |
3 |
4 |
60 |
21 |
39 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
19 |
12 |
2 |
5 |
50 |
32 |
38 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
19 |
12 |
1 |
6 |
43 |
22 |
37 |
|
Launceston City |
19 |
8 |
2 |
9 |
33 |
43 |
26 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
19 |
5 |
2 |
12 |
32 |
44 |
17 |
|
Olympia Warriors |
19 |
2 |
0 |
17 |
20 |
67 |
6 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
19 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
12 |
74 |
6 |
12 comments:
Knights Nick Nadens two yellows and subsequent RED against Launceston were a couple of the most innocuous cards I've ever seen. Ah well we cant criticise the officials can we.
Thanks for the match report Walter. I heartily agree with you. When they were at their best, South Hobart used to defend in numbers and put pressure on the ball all over the park. Their attack had penetration and they could pass effectively in the final third. Now this is what Devonport do with great success. South Hobart did not have the composure to play around the opposition, they looked panicked and their individual skills were poorer than I’ve seen in a while. As you rightly pointed out the penalty given away in the first five minutes is evidence of their lack of confidence to compete. Add to that a fair few lazy players that do not chase back when bypassed in midfield and you get what we saw on Saturday. It all started with poor sportsmanship and arrogance from Devonport, which surely would’ve been motivation enough for any team. Sadly not with this lot.
Might be better off flying in officials from interstate…. oh wait
Just out of curiosity, how many penalties have Devonport been awarded this season compared with the other sides ? Has anyone got the stats ?
Not sure I agree with the pre match huddle rubbish.
Both teams had already warmed up in their own halves.
Devonport defended the end in which they did the huddle so perhaps the players were on route to their starting positions.
Either way, once the game started it was mens v boys. Even more credit as they had the title in the bag. They taught South a lesson.
2022 NPLTAS Penalties Scored
9 - Devonport Strikers
5 - Glenorchy Knights
5 - South Hobart
4 - Kingborough Lions
1 - Clarence Zebras
1 - Launceston City
1 - Riverside Olympic
0 - Olympia Warriors
Penalties can only be award in a certain part of the field. It stands to reason that the team winning the title by 20 odd points will have more entries in the box there for ipso facto more chance to be fouled therefore more penalties.
Or it could be that referees tend to favour the top sides who are expected to win. There is less controversy for the refs if the best sides prevail. In England during Man U's golden age a journalist did a review over a number of matches at Old Trafford. In that time MU were awarded 29 penalties, visiting sides 0!
Bloody long bus ride to / from Devonport.
Never hear the Strikers rolling that excuse out.
Got off the bus and outworked the home team.
Your a gem Ben
Response to August 29, 2022 at 1:47 PM
Mate - Stop talking sense!!! It isn't welcome here..
Could also stand the side winning by 20 points consistently is aided by decisive decisions more often. Big assumption to assume port get the ball in the box more then south and knights
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