Clarence Zebras are lurching from one disaster to another and remain isolated at the foot of the NPL standings after Round 5 of the NPL Tasmania competition.
In a top versus bottom clash at Wentworth Park today, the home team went down 8-0 against leaders South Hobart.
Clarence Zebras’ American import started on the bench, which says something.
South Hobart scored four goals in each half, while Clarence Zebras’ best chance came just before the break when Sam Roze forced an excellent save from South keeper Nick O’Connell.
Apart from that brief moment, South Hobart dominated possession and Clarence Zebras were forced to clear the ball anywhere as they were constantly under pressure.
Two goals by Auston Yost within the opening quarter of an hour put the visitors on the path to an easy win.
Kobe Kemp netted a hat-trick and defender Jacob Lancaster grabbed a fine brace.
Central defender Musashi Kokubo found the net near the end to complete the humiliation.
I have no idea what Clarence Zebras can do to halt the decline of a once famous Tasmanian club, but at the moment they are in deep trouble and on a downward spiral.
Second-placed Glenorchy Knights beat Riverside Olympic 4-2 away at Windsor Park on Saturday.
Gediminas Krusa gave Olympic a shock lead after 15 minutes but Riley Dillon equalised six minutes later.
Nick Naden and Euigeon Park netted to give the Knights a commanding 3-1 lead at the interval.
An own goal by Will Prince midway through the second half made it 4-1 before Jack Glover’s own goal for the Knights saw the game finish 4-2 in favour of the visitors.
It must be a bit unsatisfying for the reigning champions as they benefited from one own-goal and then conceded and own-goal themselves at the end.
Devonport City appear to have righted their ship when they thrashed Launceston United 8-1 away at Birch Avenue on Saturday to move into fourth place.
Yuta Nomura gave the North-West Coast outfit the lead after just 18 minutes.
Declan Zasadny hit a brace and Colin Innes weighed in with four goals, while Charles Bidwell grabbed one.
Sungung Choi scored United’s consolation goal near the end.
Launceston City continued their promising early-season form with a 3-1 victory at home against the disappointing Kingborough Lions United, who slipped to fifth place.
Jack Woodland, Angus Tayloer and Alec Harris did the damage for City, while former City player Noah Mies replied for the Lions.
NPL Tasmania
Clarence Zebras 0 lost to South Hobart 8 (Austin Yost 8’, 15’, Kobe Kemp 38’, 44’, 48’, Jacob Lancaster 52’, 60’, Musashi Kokubo 77’)
NPL Tasmania Standings (As at 27 April 2025)
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
|
South Hobart |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
28 |
6 |
13 |
|
Glenorchy Knights |
5 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
19 |
7 |
12 |
|
Launceston City |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
4 |
10 |
|
Devonport City |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
4 |
9 |
|
Kingborough Lions |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
14 |
6 |
|
Riverside Olympic |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
4 |
|
Launceston United |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
26 |
4 |
|
Clarence Zebras |
5 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
19 |
0 |
37 comments:
Could see the demise of zebras coming from 15 years ago. Only ever cared about their senior side and none of the other teams. Whole committee should be ashamed of themselves for ruining a once great club.
Biggest mistake in the history of our game was to merge with Clarence. They also were a basket case when the not very smart Zebras board decided to merge with them. The rumours soon after the merger was that the original Clarence members would finally take over. Zebras you may as well close the doors now and spare your formal loyal supporters any further embarrassment.
Goodbye.
Biggest mistake Clarence ever made was merging with the basket case that was Zebras. The rumours were that within 12 months the Clarence part would disappear.
Watched this game on U Tube. Had to turn the sound off to shut up the constant loud rant at South's players by one of their coaching staff. These are supposed to be senior NPL players. They should not need verbal blasting throughout the game. Please be aware where the mike is next game mate !!. Save it for the training sessions - not during a game.
Sad to see the huge divide between the top four and the rest. United and Zebs are truly bad. Kingborough are very average. South the strongest at this point. Glenorchy may cause them some issues, Devonport not a patch on their previous power house level, Launceston City the big improvers and I think will get better. A test will be the match with Glenorchy Knights next week. I think the top four is already settled and it may well be that the league could be decided by the half way mark.
Hardly blasting them mate he just coaches them all the time kind of like an u13 team
Well listen to what he actually says, it’s constructive, positive reinforcement applauding his teams efforts or tactical information all without the use of constant swear words; others could learn to do the same.
The whole league is at a low point.
The quality has been reduced significantly in recent years.
*insert eye roll*
Don’t ever come to a game then.
You won’t have the luxury of the mute button to turn down the coaches doing what they are actually supposed to do, the kids laughing and yelling, the cheering when a team scores, the booing and the general atmosphere that makes football a damn good day out.
Interesting perspective- I enjoyed listening to it. It was a great insight into how a coach gets the best out of their players. I don’t recall it being a ‘verbal blasting’. I heard him telling the players when to press, when to put speed on the ball, which positions to be in, and offering encouragement- all of which are fundamentals of executing a game plan and system.
Must be an ex player, the league hasn’t dropped just because the bottom two are poor, I think if you look at the EPL Southampton, it’s a similar story, there’s always a bottom 2/3 teams in every league.
There always seems to be negativity but always comes from those not currently involved or playing, If you don’t like it don’t watch it.
Wonder whether a promotion relegation system would work better at this point.. Uni, Eagles and now South East surely could have made a better fist of things over previous years even if it was just a season or two that they'd stayed up for.. Although they wouldn't have the advantage of not having to train 3+ sessions and travel, but atleast bad teams would naturally rise and fall.
Maybe also doesn't help a bunch of quality players running around in a couple of the social league sides rather than playing champ or being depth at NPL level.
Across the board, NPL quality is poor. Yes, there will always be bottom 2/3 teams, but we should not be consistently seeing 5+ - 0 scorelines.
FT need to survey the player pool and find out why quality players are moving away from NPL
How many groups/teams of talented players left Clarence over the decades to play at different clubs, due to their ignorant focus on their senior team?
Eagles and South East are far better than lonny United, riverside and Clarence.
Eagles lost to Riverside only about 10 days ago…
Walter, let’s not forget they were playing against one of the strongest clubs in the State. Forgetting all of the merger talks past and most recent, watching that game from the sidelines with mini goals left out by Clarence Zebras watching the little kids run around kicking the balls, they are obviously trying, carpark was full, two other grounds there, it’s a great spot. If only the hoons on the bike could be encouraged to come and have a kick instead of menacing society. Viva la Zebra.
Decent players are playing Championship instead of NPL because South’s and Knights are the money boys but they can’t get a run with them. The players at both these clubs have just jumped from club to club chasing money , there’s no loyalty at all with any of them it’s just disgraceful.There needs to be a cap on player movements .
What an uninformed comment! But I guess they always come from people on the outside, not knowing what’s going on.
What dribble.
Clarence Zebras via Tilford have thrown plenty of money into their NPL
Kingborough are paying more than anyone in the south of the state but that’s not a conversation we’re ready to have yet I guess…
Kingborough are broke in what world are they paying their players more then anyone
clearance, what a great spot for the home of football.
Interesting comments re players playing outside of the npl - I don’t have knowledge of the north but a quick snap shot of a 15 man squad that would make a decent npl squad in my humble opinion from the champ or 21s
Gk : stalker : morrisby
Def : zammit : d brown : b Tilley :: Hughi
Mid : c brown : James : j satori : pace
Fwds : Hughi : George
Subs : good luck : Andrews :Walsh : satori
And many more
I’ve really only looked at three or 4 teams from champ but the above squad would comfortably beat the bottom three of the npl
Obviously you’re not in the know and that’s ok. Just don’t make baseless claims like ‘Kingborough are broke’.
That team would not get near Knights, Port or South and that then makes them no better then what's in the current league
Not been broke since Jez Kenth and Brian Downes hot Koby, Mies, Cartwright, Turner, Hess, Douce, Downes to the club it G Knights had of done this stones would have been thrown AND THATS A CLUB THAT WINS
The fact that 9 of the players listed play for SEU says it all. By allowing pro/rel the best clubs can compete in the NPL and the struggling clubs can rebuild in champ and allow their kids to develop without getting pumped every week. Helps nobody having a closed shop
Why are people all of a sudden viewing SEU as a powerhouse? They’ve won a single Championship title and sit in the semis of Laka cup (only defeating Clarence and Hobart City on the way).
This bubble will burst quick smart if they move into the NPL.
Both Hugi past their plus and a number of others .
South East are we to far ahead of themselves sadly !
Yeah most of those players have already been serviceable or fringe NPL, they'd make a difference to Clarence that's for sure and maybe help some of the mid table sides. But in reality is there's just a gap, between even L City and borough and the rest, I think promotion relegation playoff is still better than what we have now but for the most part, the actual best players play NPL, but not all players who could contribute well to an NPL team try to do that.
I don't think promotion relegation will fix anything. I believe the underlying problem is that many players once they get to their mid-twenties shift their focus to their career and family and soccer falls down the priority list. A relatively lighter training and fitness commitment combined with not having to travel long distances for games 50% of the time makes either the local champ or Div1 social comp an attractive option.
Anonymous, let's not forget they are 0 win, 0 draws, 5 losses, from their NPL games this season - including matches vs Riverside, Launceston United, and a cup game loss vs South East United. Not to mention their W/D/L since inception has gotta be horrendous. But hey - focus on the bustling Wentworth park! Abbasso Zebra.
I think you are spot on that is why we have children running around in WSL ,the ones that are adults have careers and children.
Also the Athletic girls are joining AFL as can see a pathway soccer in this country is slipping in all leagues .
Very poor governing bodies
Anon 7.23 am , and they still could
G win anything anything.
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