Summer Cup results - Round 1, Saturday, 11 February 2023

Photo:  Clarence Zebras keeper Josh Jones blocks a shot from close range against Knights. [PlessPix] 

NPL Summer Cup

Glenorchy Knights 0 lost to Clarence Zebras 3 (S Tooze 2, X Cappellino)

South Hobart 5 (I Van Doorne 2, B Lakoseljac 2, N Morton) beat Kingborough Lions United 1

Devonport Strikers 7-0 Launceston United

Launceston City 0-0 Riverside Olympic [Riverside Olympic won penalty shoot-out 5-4]

Photo:  South Hobart's Iskander Van Doorne looks to get past the Lions' Keenan Douce. [PlessPix]  

Under-21 Summer Cup

Glenorchy Knights 1-2 Clarence Zebras

South Hobart 6-2 Kingborough Lions United

Devonport Strikers 4-1 Launceston United

Launceston City 1-0 Riverside Olympic

Photo:  Clarence Zebras' Kane Hatcher tries to catch Knights' Kalvin Pitt. [PlessPix]  

Northern Men’s Championship Summer Cup

Devonport Strikers 1-1 Ulverstone [Ulverstone won penalty shoot-out 4-3]

Burnie United 2 (J Broome 2) beat Somerset Sharks 1 [Friday night]

Photo:  Action from the Taroona versus Nelson Eastern Suburbs game. [PlessPix]  

Southern Men’s Championship Summer Cup

South Hobart 1-2 Hobart United

New Town White Eagles 0-2 University

Taroona 9-0 Nelson Eastern Suburbs

Photo:  Knights' Kyle Vincent shoots at goal against Clarence Zebras. [PlessPix] 

Postponements in opening round of 2023 Summer Cup devalue Tasmanian Football

Photo:  South East United (in yellow shirts)have not entered the Summer Cup, which is another disappointment. [PlessPix]  

The 2023 Summer Cup kicks off tonight at Montello in Burnie when the home side entertains Somerset at 7pm.

I hope to post the result later at the end of this article.

In the NPL section of the Summer Cup, there are separate northern and southern sections and the action begins tomorrow.

Devonport Strikers host Launceston United at Valley Road at 2.30pm tomorrow, while Launceston City take on Riverside Olympic at Buckby Motors Park at 6.30pm.

In the south, Glenorchy Knights meet Clarence Zebras at KGV Park at 11.45am, and South Hobart’s showdown with Kingborough Lions United is scheduled for South Hobart Oval at 2pm.

In the other northern championship match, Devonport Strikers host Ulverstone at Valley Road at 10am.

Surprisingly, Launceston City’s game against Riverside Olympic in the championship section has been postponed.

I am told the reason is that too many of the young players are attending Party in the Paddock at Quercus Park in the north of the State.

The southern game scheduled for tomorrow between Olympia Warriors and Hobart City Beachside has been postponed for the same reason and will now be played on Wednesday, 15 February 2023, at Empire Couriers Park at 6.30pm.

Horses for courses, I guess, but I can’t quite get my head around such postponements for such reasons.

It devalues the competition and makes me wonder why anyone would take Tasmanian football seriously.

In the Under-21 Summer Cup tomorrow, Devonport play Launceston United at Valley Road at noon, South Hobart meet Kingborough Lions United at South Hobart Oval at 11.45am, Glenorchy Knights host Clarence Zebras at KGV Park at 9.30am, and Launceston City take on Riverside Olympic at Bucky Motors Park at 4.15pm.

In the remaining Southern Championship section, Nelson Eastern Suburbs play Taroona at KGV Park at 4.15pm, South Hobart meet Hobart United at South Hobart Oval at 9.30am, and New Town White Eagles are away to University at Olinda Grove at 2pm.

*****

Burnie United beat Somerset Sharks 2-1 at Montello tonight.

Burnie led 2-0 at the interval before the visitors pulled a goal back.

Jaiden Broome netted both goals for Burnie to get them off to a winning start in the 2023 Summer Cup.

Pascoe Vale resume annual Tasmanian pilgrimage with a win

Photo:  Pascoe Vale's Ethan Brooks (No.22) slides the winner past South Hobart keeper Jake Hayers. [PlessPix] 

(Pre-season Friendly, South Hobart Oval, Saturday, 4 February 2023)

South Hobart 1 (Bradley Lakoseljac 32)

Pascoe Vale 2 (Tom Harris 20, Ethan Brooks 71)

HT:  1-1   Att:  200   Ref: Brenton Kopra

South Hobart:  Nick O’Connell  -  Tobias Herweynen, Jacob Lancaster, Jack Bowman, Lachlan Semmler  -  Gus Higgins, Nicholas Morton, Jackson Dent  -  Sam Berezansky, Bradley Lakoseljac, Iskander Van Doorne  [Substitutes:  Jake Hayers (GK), Ewan Sloan, Reilly Morton, Alex Brown, Joshua Scholfield, Harrison Oates]

Pascoe Vale:  Alexander Pavlidis;  Jonathan Vakirtzis, Diego Miranda, Miguel Altares, Bradley Murray, Bardhi Hysoli, Joffrey N’Koso, Nicholas Georgopoulos, Yazid Said, Tom Harris, Joshua Lim, Mohamad Habib  [Substitutes:  Charlie Emery (GK), Liam Keilty, Mitch Trajcevski, John Mulumi, Ethan Brooks, Nicholas Hatzigeorgiou, Matheus Assuncao, Andre Colakovski, Will Roberts, Tomislav Buljubasic, Terence Carter]

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Photo:  Jack Bowman (left) was back in action for South Hobart. [PlessPix] 

Pascoe Vale, the Victorian NPL 2 club, resumed their annual pilgrimage to Tasmania for the first time since 2020 for a pre-season friendly against South Hobart last Saturday.

There was no Davey Van’t Schip, the star of past seasons who always tested South Hobart’s defenders to the limit, but there was former Tasmanian winger Joffrey N’Koso.  He played as a left-winger for Olympia Warriors and Glenorchy Knights before moving to Melbourne almost two years ago.

South Hobart had centre-back Jack Bowman on view after three seasons away, two of which had been spent with Glenorchy Knights.

Photo:  South Hobart defending against Pascoe Vale. [PlessPix] 

Pascoe Vale hogged possession in the opening stages and their reward was an opening goal in the 20^th minute by Tom Harris, who fired home after Nick O’Connell could only parry an initial shot.

South Hobart equalised in the 32^nd minute.  A rapid build-up down the left ended with a cross towards the far side of the box, where the unmarked Bradley Lakoseljac suddenly materialised and headed powerfully into the net.

It was a pretty even game after that, but the visitors found a winner in the 71^st minute through a lightning counter-attack.  Ethan Brooks advanced on goal down the left and cut inside past a couple of defenders before beating replacement keeper Jake Hayers with a low finish.

South Hobart should have done better as they created some outstanding chances, but a couple of poor finishes from close range cost them at least a draw.

Photo:  A duel on the edge of the box. [PlessPix]  

South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“I thought it was a good game of football, end to end.

“The opening 10 minutes we gave them too much respect and let them get a bit of momentum.

“The further the game went, I thought we had a lot more control and had some chances.  That’s an area where we obviously may need to sharpen up.

“In the last 10 or 15 minutes, either side could have got a win, and they got it on a breakaway.

“Not too disappointed at this stage of the season.  We’ve had a good run now for 20 players.”

Photo:  Pascoe Vale on the attack. [PlessPix]  

Pascoe Vale coach, Alex Cobo, said:

“We obviously came here to Tasmania in order to continue our preparations for our season, which is in two weeks.

“We actually found a very, very good South Hobart team who were well organised and fantastic in transition and very quick with great deliveries from wide areas.

“I thought it was a great game for two football teams to prepare for their respective seasons.”

Photo:  A South Hobart attacker looks to beat a Pascoe Vale defender. [PlessPix]

Photo:  Nick O'Connell goes down to snatch the ball at the feet of a Pascoe Vale striker. [PlessPix]

Launceston United announce their intentions

Photo:  Launceston United's David Owusu (blue shirt) collected a hat-trick. [PlessPix] 

Launceston United, newcomers to the NPL Tasmania competition, gave a sign of their intent yesterday in the teeming rain at Kelvedon Park against the hosts, Taroona, who are in the Southern Championship.

Launceston United fell behind to a Noah Gardner goal in the opening minute after a catastrophic clearance by the United keeper.

The keeper inexplicably threw the ball out to Gardner, who said ‘thanks very much’ and planted it into an empty net.

The visitors put that set-back behind them and went on to win 5-2 with only ten men.

Photo:  Launceston United defender Felipe Carrasco was sent off after 20 minutes. [PlessPix] 

They had Chilean import Felipe Carrasco sent off after just 20 minutes for a rash challenge on an opponent, so the northerners played with 10 men for 70 minutes.

English import David Owusu hit a hat-trick, including a penalty, while Brazilian acquisition Walter da Silva netted a brace to his United a convincing win.

Taroona’s other goal came from Fergus Bridge.

This result was not what Taroona coach Llewyn Tubb, who is in his second year at the helm of the club, would have expected.

Launceston United coach Fernando Munoz Paredes, was delighted with the win.

Photo:  Launceston United coach Fernando Munoz Paredes before the game yesterday. [PlessPix] 

“Taroona are a good team so the result was good for us,” Munoz said.

“Carrasco was a bit unlucky to be sent off for his tackle, but to play with 10 men for 70 minutes and come back as we did and win 5-2 was very good.”

In the Women’s Super League game, Taroona did very well under coach Karen Wills to beat champions Launceston United 3-2.

Daisy Parsell scored a brace for Taroona, whose other goal came from Mia Fujiura.

Photo:  Taroona coach Llewyn Tubb supervises his team's warm-up before the game against Launceston United. [PlessPix] 

Photo:  A Taroona attacker uner pressure from two Launceston United opponents. [PlessPix]