South Hobart and Knights favoured to reach Summer Cup final

Photos (Top to Bottom): Alex Tatnell punches a Clarence corner clear; Knights' Josh Fielding heads away a Clarence corner; Knights pressure Clarence in attack; Knights' Corey Smith tries to control the ball despite the pressure of Clarence's Ben Parker; Knights' James Sherman battles with Clarence's Joseph Stevens in midfield; Eagles' Ben Whitehall controls the ball as Zebras' David Cox moves in; Zebras' Luke Engels with a posse of Eagles players in pursuit; Zebras' Ricky Self goes for a header; Zebras' keeper Jason Voss catches a corner; Eagles' keeper Craig Minty takes a cross [PlessPix]

Tilford Zebras kept alive their hopes of reaching a fourth successive Summer Cup final when they beat New Town Eagles 2-0 at South Hobart today.

But, it will be a tough assignment and not entirely dependent on their own results.

Zebras are in second place in Group A, three points adrift of leader South Hobart.

For Zebras to reach the final, they must beat Olympia next weekend and hope that South Hobart lose to New Town Eagles.

This is just the way in which Zebras sneaked through the back door last year to reach the final, but it seems most unlikely this season.

South Hobart will need just a point against Eagles to reach the final and they should, on current form, be more than capable of achieving this.

They have yet to concede a goal in this tournament and have two wins from two outings, while today they also competed in the northern Steve Hudson Cup and, despite falling behind to an early goal, eventually triumphed 7-3 against Western Knights.

Ricky Self fired Zebras ahead against Eagles today in the 7^th minute when he shrugged off a challenge by Michael Anderson before shooting past Craig Minty from 25 metres.

Luke Engels had gone close for Zebras in the 4^th minute, but Eagles should have taken the lead a minute later when Adam McKeown released Jamie Vernon on the left of the box.

Vernon advanced on goal, but his chest-high shot aimed inside the far post lacked power and was at just the right height for Jason Voss to make a comfortable save.

Zebras were well in control and were prepared to shoot from range, while Eagles relied on the counter-attack, but these usually petered out before becoming dangerous.

Eagles did have the ball in the net early in the second half after good work by Anderson and McKeown, but the effort was ruled off-side.

It took Zebras until the final minute to make the game safe. Matt Hall’s shot was parried by Minty, and Dwayne Walsh swept home the rebound to make it 2-0.

Glenorchy Knights beat Clarence United 1-0 in the Group B game today, taking them to the top of the group with a maximum of six points.

It was a dour, physical game which was settled midway through the second half when Alex Holmes headed home Josh Fielding’s corner.

Knights had other chances through Corey Smith, Will Roberts, Holmes and Andrew Robb, while Clarence did not once test their former keeper, Alex Tatnell, in the Knights goal.

Knights need just a draw next weekend against Kingborough Lions United to reach the final.

Should they lose, Kingborough or Clarence will make the final, providing Clarence can overcome bottom-side Taroona.

In the Division One section of the Summer Cup, Metro beat Nelson Eastern Suburbs 5-1 after leading 3-0 at the interval.

Adam Mills netted for Nelson.

"It was an ordinary effort from us," said Nelson coach, Michael Roach.

"It was a better second half, but Metro were the better team on the day and deserved to win."

The Tasmanian Institute of Sport beat Huon Valley 10-0 in the other match at North Chigwell.

Brady Cronk scored four goals, Hugh Foley grabbed a hat-trick, and Declan Foley, Nick Mearns and Jesse Curran each netted one goal apiece.

"With several senior players out with injury, this was a good opportunity for some of the younger players to step up and perform, and that is exactly what they did," said TIS head coach, Dean May.

"Huon Valley should be commended for their effort to continue to play football despite the result."

Tom Roach scored twice as South Hobart downed Western Knights 7-3 in the Steve Hudson Cup in Launceston.

Jim Pennicott, Shae Hickey, Jonathon Lo, Greg Downes and Liam Scott all grabbed a goal apiece.

Taroona succumbed 3-2 to Ulverstone.

In other results, Roverside Olympic beat Launceston City 3-1 and Northern Rangers finally came good with a 5-0 win over Launceston United.

Summer Cup tournament hots up with second round, and not just because of the weather

Photos (Top to Bottom): South Hobart goalkeeper Sam Kruijver is in excellent form; Zebras' Ben Crosswell will be looking for goals against Eagles; Knights' Daniel White is suspended; South Hobart's Jonathon Ladic...a lot is expected of him; Zebras' Troy Kaden will make way for Jason Voss this weekend; Andrew Telega will have to tighten the Zebras' defence this weekend; last weekend's Zebras line-up [PlessPix]

South Hobart should maintain their lead at the top of Group A in the Premier League section of the Summer Cup competition by beating Olympia Warriors at South Hobart at 2.30pm on Saturday.

South Hobart will have Tom Roach and David Abbott available and included in their squad after both were absent from this southern tournament last weekend.

Youngster Andy Brennan is likely to get a run in the seniors in the northern Steve Hudson competition in Launceston on Sunday.

The South Hobart squad for the match against Olympia is likely to be: Sam Kruijver, Josh Heerey, Daniel Brown, Hugh Ludford, Liam Scott, Bart Beecroft, Greg Downes, Jonathon Ladic, Shae Hickey, Kostas Kanakaris, Jonathon Lo, Jim Pennicott, Tom Roach, Andy King, David Abbott, David Cooper.

Coach Ken Morton confirmed that Ricki Eaves is currently in Melbourne with the Army Reserve.

Olympia will have Dmitri Nester in goal ahead of Justin Farrugia, but Matthew Hedge and Adam Powell are out injured.

Hedge has toe and ankle injuries, while Powell has stitches in a head wound sustained against New Town Eagles last weekend and is not permitted to play.

Youssef Mohamad is available for selection, while Nick Meredith and Aaron Percy are also included in the squad.

Jayden Wiggins has joined Olympia from Metro and will play in the reserves and be a substitute for the seniors.

“It’ll be extremely tough,” said Olympia coach, Chris Hey. “We’ve got to work on our distribution from the back and work in our front third and try and play some possession football.

“We did well against them a couple of weeks ago.

“They probably weren’t happy with their finishing in that friendly and I’m sure they’ll look at improving that.”

Olympia are in third place in the group after they drew 1-1 with New Town Eagles last weekend and lost the subsequent penalty shoot-out.

The other Group A match this weekend is between second-placed New Town Eagles and bottom side Tilford Zebras at South Hobart at 11.30am on Sunday.

Zebras must win if they are to keep alive their hopes of winning a fourth consecutive Summer Cup.

They will have Luke Engels and Jayden Welch available this week, while Jason Voss will take over in goal from Troy Kaden.

Coach Romeo Frediani is still trying to decide on his number one keeper.

“I’m confident Jason will do well and I think the team will do all right,” Frediani said.

“We’ve done well at training this week and we’re confident.”

Eagles will have youngster Craig Minty in goal after Nathan Pitchford suffered a shoulder injury last weekend, which will side-line him for a month.

Defender Andrew Clark is unavailable, but Ben Whitehall is back and will come in to the squad.

Alex Gordon also trained this week but may start in the reserves.

“I’m very disappointed that we’ve lost Nathan Pitchford, but I think we can have a good game with the Zebras,” said Eagles coach, George Krambousanos.

“Their names and their experience outdo our boys, but I think we can give them a good game.”

Glenorchy Knights, leaders on goal-difference in Group B, come up against second-placed Clarence United at 2.30pm at South Hobart on Sunday.

Knights will be without suspended utility player Danny White, who was sent off against Taroona last weekend.

Taroona have been handed a $500 fine by Football Federation Tasmania for the outburst by one of their members which resulted in White using offensive language and being sent off.

The fine has been suspended providing the club ensures its members are well behaved in the future.

Knights coach Eamonn Kelly said that White’s versatility would be missed as he can play in midfield, in attack, out wide or even in defence.

Jade Clay still has cricket commitments, but James Hope is available this weekend.

Seth Otte, the promising South Hobart youngster, trained with Knights on Monday but it is uncertain whether he will request a transfer.

Josh Fielding and Corey Smith have been unable to attend all training sessions this week because of work commitments.

“Clarence are always a bogey team for us,” said Kelly. “I hope we can put together two 30-minute halves and play some decent football this week.

“Jacob Huigsloot has got to be looking forward to playing against his old team. He’s trained well and I think it means a lot to him this week.

“I don’t know if his brother, Luke, will be in the Clarence line-up, though.”

He probably will be as Clarence United coach Andrew Brown said he would field a largely unchanged side from that of last week.

Alex Nandan is a doubtful starter as he suffered a leg injury at training on Tuesday.

Chris Hunt may be registered in time to play and he would be a natural replacement.

“We’re looking forward to it,” said Brown. “I love playing against the Knights.

“In the early days, they used to antagonise my young players with their aggression and passion.

“Those kids have grown up with it so there’s no problem now.

“They’re always passionate, they’re always aggressive, but I think we’ve won eight of the eleven, or seven of the last ten, games, so we've found we can deal with the aggression and we'll try and play them off the park.

“That’s the plan, anyway. It’s the Summer Cup. It should be all about entertainment and trying to score goals.”

Kingborough Lions United and Taroona, who have yet to earn any points in Group B, meet at South Hobart at 11.30am on Saturday.

Kingborough will miss Ross Hinkley, who is unavailable, and his place will be taken by Brett Andrews, who was unavailable last weekend.

Taroona will have Sam Johnson at centre-back in place of Jack Elliott, who is unavailable.

Rick Nettlefold replaces goalkeeper Tom Shepperd, who is also unavailable.

“We missed a stack of chances last week against Knights, but we’ve done a lot of work this week on finishing so there should be some improvement in that area,” said Taroona coach, Ben Horgan.

“We need to tighten up in defence as well, but having Sam back will make a big difference.

“We’ve also signed three new players from Somerset who will strengthen our squad, but we’ll introduce them gradually over the next few weeks as they improve their fitness and get used to the way we play.

“On Sunday, we’ve got Ulverstone in the Steve Hudson Cup.

“They are a bit of an unknown for us, but they got a great result last week beating Northern Rangers 3-0, so they must be playing some good football.

“We’ll probably start with a similar line-up to Saturday, but with one or two changes and I’ll try a few players off the bench to see how they go.”