Welcome to the Weekend Wash-Up as we take a look back on Round 9 of the McDonald's NPL Tasmania season. It was a weekend with no shortage of goals scored, with some 24 goals coming from the 4 matches, which is remarkable considering that included a 1-0 result! The Lions and Strikers had big victories, the Zebras did what they had threatened to do all year and claimed a big scalp, whilst the Knights struck in the final minute in another stoppage-time heart-stopper against City. Let's dive in.
Zebras Win Goal Fest Over South Hobart
The Clarence Zebras scored one of their biggest victories since their inception, by downing South Hobart 5-4 in a wild shootout at Wentworth Park. In a game featuring some great attacking play, but highly questionable defending, the Zebras exploded out to a 4-1 lead, before South fought back late with Nick Morton becoming the third player in league history to score hat-tricks in consecutive matches. It was not enough though, as the Zebras held on under fire at the end.
The Zebras took the lead in the 16th minute when Samuel Tooze cut through the South defence and Bowman’s dispossessing tackle fell straight into the path of Riley Dillon who was left with a tap-in.
The second arrived in a similar manner as Bowman’s attempted clearance cannoned into Tooze who followed it up and lifted an effort past O’Connell.
South would hit back just before the halftime break however, Morton grabbing his first of the afternoon from close range to finish off Van Doorne’s clever ball after his run wasn’t tracked.
The towering figure of Pritchard Adjei bobbed up from a corner just after the restart and when Cappellino crossed for Dillon to head in his second shortly after, the Zebras were flying and suddenly 4-1 ahead.
Zebras keeper Josh Jones was then sloppily caught dwelling on the ball in the penalty area, taking an unnecessary touch that allowed Morton to slip in like a thief in the night and roll home his second. A similar fate then befell Ben Tilley, as Van Doorne won the ball back off him high up the pitch and allowed Morton the chance to deposit his hat-trick.
Suddenly it was 4-3 and game on, but the Zebras wobble was soon steadied as South’s own problems at the back continued to plague them and Curtis Miley charged past them all and set up Cappellino to make it 5-3
With 15 minutes to play it was cut to a one-goal game once more, when Van Doorne’s low free kick travelled through a sea of bodies and somehow squeezed in to make it 5-4.
South were piling on the pressure late and given the past fortnight, it was hard to be confident the Zebras were going to hold on. But Josh Jones put his couple of bad moments behind himself to come up clutch. He made a good stop on Morton in the 80th minute and crucially gave up no rebound with Van Doorne lurking before then making another sharp stop to deny Van Doorne himself in the 88th minute. It was enough to see the Zebras home, as they claimed a massive win to move level with South Hobart on points on the table.
More KGV Stoppage Time Drama For City and Knights
Once again Launceston City and Glenorchy Knights found themselves locked at 0-0 in stoppage time in a game at KGV and once again a winner was fired home in the dying moments. This time around it was the Knights who provided City with a taste of their own medicine, turning the tables and reversing the result when Daniel Sagno stepped up and struck a dramatic winner.
You could hardly have gotten a more contrasting affair to the game at Wentworth earlier, as the first half passed by without a single scoring chance of note. It was a dour, defensive grind of a game with neither side looking like they were set to break the deadlock.
We didn’t have to wait long for a chance in the second half though, as Sagno played through Mearns who put his shot wide of the mark. It was a glorious opening but went begging. Any hopes that signalled an opening up of the game were quickly put to bed, however, as the pattern of the first half was soon restored.
Sagno was looking the most likely to open up a defence and he created another chance on 72 minutes which Mearns headed wide. Beyond that and a few shots from each side from long range that never looked likely, the game drifted to stoppage time at 0-0 with City defending well against a Knights side dominating possession, though offering no real threat back the other way.
But as has been the case the past two times they’ve met at KGV, there was late drama as Knights won a free kick just outside the area with time about to expire.
Up stepped the Canadian Sagno, who had looked the most likely man on the pitch all evening and he duly delivered. He got his free-kick over the wall and under the bar, a despairing hand of Clark got to it, but couldn’t keep it out and the Knights had snuck it at the death. The win keeps them within touch of Devonport at the top, a week after the Strikers similarly claimed two extra points in stoppage time.
Lions Dine Out On Riverside
At Darcy Street, the Kingborough Lions took out their frustrations of a difficult few weeks on a hapless Riverside Olympic side and promptly buried them 10-0 in an absolute mauling.
The rout started in the 12th minute, as Simon Vivarelli bobbed up at corner before Declan Taylor added another with a fine finish into the roof of the net 15 minutes later. Former Olympic player, Tom Prince then made it 3-0 by halftime when he scrambled one home from close range.
At 3-0 at halftime, the Lions were already headed towards a big win, but the second half saw the Lions really get on a roll, adding another seven goals to annihilate them.
Taylor and Kemp had advanced the score to 5-0 just five minutes into the half before the goal of the day was scored from outside the box by Simon Vivarelli, bending one beautifully for his second.
Noah Mies then got in on the act and fired in a brace in the final twenty minutes of the match to help his cause in the race for the Golden Boot. Othamn also added his second of the day and the demolition job was complete, a 10-0 win and an easy afternoon at the office for the Lions.
For the Lions it was a ruthless performance they will hope can kick their season back into life, granted their issues have more been around conceding than scoring this year, whilst Riverside are left searching for answers.
Strikers Dial Up For Cup Final
In the battle of top versus bottom, the Devonport Strikers tuned up for next weekend’s Lakoseljac Cup Final with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Launceston United.
The underdogs were on the backfoot pregame with David Owusu and Aidan Piper ruled out. Without arguably their two most important players against the best side in the league, it was always going to be an uphill battle.
Brody Denehey continued his rich vein of form to open the scoring after half an hour and extended the lead with his second midway through the second half.
Spanish hitman Roberto Fernandez Garrido then added a third soon after with a tidy finish from close range before Nick Lanau-Atkinson scored a clever goal from miles out, taking advantage of the keeper being out of position.
It confirmed the 4-0 win and will send the Strikers into next week’s Cup Final in form and still sitting four points clear on top. This was always more a case of just negotiating the week with no injuries or suspensions for the ladder leaders and they duly did just that.
Round 9
Kingborough 10 (S.Vivarelli 12" 63", D.Taylor 31" 48", T.Prince 35", K.Kemp 51", N.Mies 71" 86", A.Othmann 64" 73")
Riverside Olympic 0
Clarence Zebras 5 (R.Dillon 16" 57", S.Tooze 37", P.Adjei 49" X.Cappellino 68")
South Hobart 4 (N.Morton 45+2"58" 63", I.Van Doorne 76")
Glenorchy Knights 1 (D.Sagno 90+2")
Launceston City 0
Devonport Strikers 4 (B.Denehey 32" 56" R.Garrido 59" N.Lanau-Atkinson 65")
Launceston United 0