Cup results - Sunday, 30 April 2023

Photo:  Nick Morton lobs Knights keeper Jackson Gardner to make it 2-0 for South Hobart. [PlessPix] 

Lakoseljac Cup  -  Quarterfinal

South Hobart 7 (I Van Doorne 3, 45, N Morton 12, 81, J Dent 22, S Berezansky 58, 74) beat Glenorchy Knights 2 (D Sagno 35 pen, K Vincent 60)

Photo:  Jackson Dent (No.23 in background) makes it 3-0 for South Hobart and Knights captain Tyler Harrison is left to pick the ball out of the net as goalkeeper Jackson Gardner is on his knees. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  Performing seals Kyle Vincent (left) and Lachlan Semmler play with the ball. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  Iskander Van Doorne (out of picture) opens the scoring against Knights today. [PlessPix]

Under-21 State-wide Cup

Clarence Zebras 1-4 Riverside Olympic

Photo:  A Clarence Zebras defender clears from a Riverside Olympic attacker in today's Under-21 State-wide Cup tie. [PlessPix]

Photo:  A Riverside header in the Under-21 State-wide Cup game today. [PlessPix]

Photo:  Action from today's Social League 3 game at Wentworth Park between Clarence Zebras and University. [PlessPix]

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' James Phillips attacks against University. [PlessPix]

Cup results - Saturday, 29 April 2023

Photo:  Devonport's Roberto Garriso shoots and scores the opener against Kingborough Lions. [PlessPix] 

Lakoseljac Cup  -  Quarterfinals

Kingborough Lions United 1 (K Kemp 86 pen) lost to Devonport Strikers 2 (R Garrido 24, A Dulleh 42)

Riverside Olympic 0 lost to Hobart United 1 (A Berhane 54)

Launceston City 1 (M Smith 16) lost to Clarence Zebras 2 (R Dillon 20, X Cappellino 48)

Photo:  Goalmouth action in the game between Hobart United and Riverside Olympic at Windsor Park in Launceston. [Photo courtesy of Romilton Amaral and Moses Kangogo] 

 Women’s State-wide Cup  -  Quarterfinals

New Town White Eagles 2 (K Ollerhead 46, P Evans 84) lost to South Hobart 5 (L Roberts 27, 74, J Mamic 39, J Gray 43 og, E Flies 90)

Kingborough Lions United 3 (C Lashmar 27, D Kannegiesser 45, 62) beat Clarence Zebras 2 (M Baric 4, 74)

Ulverstone 1 (G Anderson 16) lost to Devonport Strikers 2 (N Boyd 55, J White 65)

Launceston United 2 (C Read 11, C Marten 74) beat Taroona 0

Photo:  South Hobart's Josephine Mamic about to score against New Town White Eagles. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' Elianna Diafokeris (right) on the attack against Kingborough. [PlessPix] 

 Men’s Under-21 State-wide Cup

Kingborough Lions United 2-8 South East United

Burnie United 0-7 Devonport Strikers

Launceston City 2-1 Glenorchy Knights

Photo:  Kingborough on the attack against South East United. [PlessPix]

Four mouth-watering quarterfinals in Lakoseljac Cup

Photo:  Clarence Zebras and Launceston City meet for the second time in a week and their cup-tie should be close again. [PlessPix]

One could not have asked for a better quarterfinal draw in the Lakoseljac Cup.

The three cup ties tomorrow [Saturday] and the one on Sunday promise to be enthralling affairs.

Kingborough Lions United take on Devonport Strikers at 3pm tomorrow at KGV Park.

This is the Lions’ temporary home while their ground is being re-developed, so this game is for all intents and purposes a neutral venue.  It’s all a bit like playing Liverpool versus Manchester United at Wembley rather than at Anfield or Old Trafford.  Okay., I exaggerate a little, but I hope you get the drift.

Devonport, the holders, will face a stern test and, if their captain, Kieran Mulraney, is absent through injury, it will be even harder.  He went off in the first half of last week’s 2-1 league win over South Hobart.

The Lions are running hot and cold and the key to this game could be whether their defence can contain Roberto Garrido, the free-scoring Spaniard.

Photo:  Devonport's Roberto Garrido (Number 9) will be the man Kingborough must contain. [PlessPix] 

Devonport have other scorers such as Ali Dulleh (who may, in fact, be suspended after being sent off against South Hobart), Nick Lanau-Atkinson and Brody Denehey.

Kingborough have capable goalscorers in Noah Mies and Kobe Kemp, and they will need to be tightly marked by Devonport.

What is certain is that this should be a mouth-watering contest in which both sides are more than capable of winning and progressing to the semi-finals.

The battle of the midfields will be an interesting sidelight that could determine the outcome.  The coming together of Devonport’s Charles Bidwell and Kingborough’s Kobe Kemp could be explosive.

Sunday’s clash at 2pm at South Hobart Oval between South Hobart and Glenorchy Knights will be momentous.

Both sides have a lot of skin in this competition.

The Lakoseljac Cup is names after one of Knights’ most notable players, while his grandson, Bradley Lakoseljac, plays for South Hobart.

Knights won the league meeting between the sides 1-0 recently, but only because of a super human performance by the Canadian import goalkeeper, Jackson Gardner.

Gardner also saved them in the next game, a 1-0 win over Kingborough.

He cannot be expected to do this every week so the Knights are going to have to rely on their outfield players at some time or other.

They could be without captain and centre-back Eli Luttmer, who was injured in the win against Kingborough.

Knights’ chances will improve if he is fit to play.

South Hobart have been let down by poor fnishing in recent weeks.

They are creating numerous chances and if they can finish these, they should make it to the semi-finals.

Photo:  Matthew Pace of Clarence Zebras in pursuit of Launceston City's Stefan Tantari.  Pace has been playing in defence recently. [PlessPix] 

The other two ties on Saturday are between Launceston City and Clarence Zebras at Buckby Motors Park in Launceston at 5.30pm, and the clash between Riverside Olympia and second-tier Hobart United at Windsor Park at noon.

Clarence Zebras beat Launceston City 2-1 last week in a league match at Wentworth Park and this meeting should be every bit as close and may well requite extra-time for a decision.

Hobart United are the only second-tier side left in the competition and it remains to be seen whether the strange kick-off time of noon suits them as they may need to travel earlier than usual.

Hobart United have slumped a bit in form in the league in recent weeks, while Riverside earned their first points of the season in the NPL last week and will have gained some confidence.

In the State-wide Under-21 Cup, there are three games on Saturday:

Kingborough Lions United v South East United (KGV Park, noon)

Burnie United v Devonport Strikers (Montello Park, 2pm)

Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights (Buckby Motors Park, 2.30pm)

The fourth game is on Sunday:

Clarence Zebras v Riverside Olympic (Wentworth park, 12.30pm)  

Four intriguing quarterfinal ties looming in Women's State-wide Cup tomorrow

Photo:  Nina Daniels (left) of New Town White Eagles and goalkeeper Jenna Farrow of South Hobart at today's media conference. [PlessPix] 

Four intriguing Women’s State-wide Cup quarterfinals are scheduled for tomorrow.

Being cup matches, it is difficult to predict the outcomes.

Southern Championship outfit New Town White Eagles host Women’s Super League leaders South Hobart at Clare Street at noon tomorrow.

Eagles go into this game coming off a surprise 1-0 league win against the highly fancied University last weekend.

The confidence engendered by that result will spur Eagles on against South Hobart, who beat Kingborough Lions United 3-1 in last Sunday’s league match.

Photo:  Jenna Farrow, South Hobart's goalkeeper, has Women's A-League experience with Adelaide United and senior experience in Victoria with South Melbourne Hellas.  She also played in Hobart with Olympia Warriors. [PlessPix] 

“The State-wide Cup is always very important to every club,” said South Hobart goalkeeper Jenna Farrow.

“You want to win as many trophies as possible, but we’re not naïve going into this game as we know Eagles have some ex-Super League players.

“We’re going to come in all guns blazing and giving it one hundred per cent.

“The difference between Super League and Championship isn’t all that big a gap, so we understand we have to be at 100 per cent.

“I’ve never played at Clare Street so I don’t know what the pitch is like, but we’ll just play the way we always play.

“We’re a high-pressing team and we like to keep the ball and so that’s how we’re going to play.”

Farrow said she knew Eagles had a few former Super League players such as Maddy O’Brien, Zoe Nichols and Kate Ollerhead but that South would play their normal style of football.

She said she had played against them in 2020 and knew what they were capable of, but that if South played their style of football they shouldn’t have too many issues with Eagles.

“We know that if we don’t play the way we want to play, we’ll get punished,” Farrow said.  “It’s a simple as that.”

Photo:  Eagles' Nina Daniels is an accomplished footballer and is also academically talented.  She is currently studying for a PhD in a scientific/medical field. [PlessPix] 

New Town White Eagles’ Nina Daniels said it would definitely be a touch match.

“It’s no secret that South Hobart are a really, really tough team to play against, But I think for us at Eagles it’s really exciting to see what we can do against them,” Daniels said.

“It’ll be really exciting to see how we go, especially at home.

“We just had a pretty good game on the weekend beating the reigning champions of the past two seasons, University.

“It’s exciting to see what we can bring to the table in such a good competition.

“South Hobart are probably expected to win, but I guess we have nothing to lose going in to this competition so we’ll just go in as hard as we can and see if can cause an upset.

“We’ve started the season well and are currently four from four and we just beat Uni, who have only lost twice in two years now and have been top of the ladder for the past two years.

“We’ve started well but we still have a lot of room to grow and I think that will come as the season progresses.

“It’s going to be a tough one, but we got our heads held high and it should be a good game.

“We’ll play our own style, which has stood us in good stead so far, and see what we can do.”

The other three ties look quite evenly matched.

Super League sides Devonport Strikers and Launceston United should make it to the semi-finals by beating lower level opponents in Ulverstone and Taroona, respectively.

The all-Super League pairing of Kingborough Lions United and Clarence Zebras looks pretty even.

Both teams have some high-quality performers and the contest on KGV Park’s artificial surface under the superb new floodlights will be an enthralling encounter.

Women’s State-wide Cup Quarterfinals, Saturday, 29 April 2023

New Town White Eagles v South Hobart (Clare Street, noon)

Ulverstone v Devonport Strikers (Ulverstone Showground 2pm)

Launceston United v Taroona (Birch Avenue, 4.30pm)

Kingborough Lions United v Clarence Zebras (KGV Park, 6pm)