Welcome to the Weekend Washup as we take a look back at Round 16 action in the McDonalds NPL Tasmania. It was a weekend where the Devonport Strikers moved another step closer to mathematically sealing the title by downing the Knights and taking advantage of that result the Lions moved into second place with a win over Riverside. South Hobart went a long way to securing their spot in the top 4 with a win over fifth placed Launceston City and the Clarence Zebras enjoyed a thumping win over their neighbours in the Derby.
Lanau-Atkinson Puts Title Race To Bed
If they hadn’t already, the Devonport Strikers have all but put the title race to bed with a 1-0 win over the Glenorchy Knights at KGV. Nick Lanau-Atkinson’s classy free kick was enough to secure the win and leave the Strikers 11 points clear with just five games to play. Despite resting some key movers ahead of Wednesday’s historic Australia Cup clash with the Wellington Phoenix, the Strikers produced a strong performance and were good value for the win that slammed the door shut on any wild hopes of a miraculous late title charge from the Knights.
Lanau-Atkinson had earlier been denied a spectacular goal just 10 minutes into the game when his volleyed effort was superbly saved by Alex Woodham in the Knights goal. He wasn’t going to be denied in the 71st minute as he stepped up and sealed the game in style.
With a free blown just outside the penalty area, Lanau-Atkinson bent his low left footed curler around the wall and into the back of the net. It was audacious and spectacularly skillful stuff with a celebration to match. He wheeled off and put his hands together to mime a sleeping gesture, symbolically announcing the title race had officially been put to bed. A fair assessment, they certainly aren’t going to be caught now, though even they lost this one I still don’t think they were really in any danger of having the title slip through their hands. There was also an element of gamesmanship about this goal, as his subtle shifting of the football after the wall was set went unnoticed and probably contributed to his spectacular goal. All power to him if he can get away with it and it just added to the audacity of the goal.
The Knights were a lot better in the second half than they were in the first and they very nearly denied the Strikers all three points at the death with Keegan Smith coming up big for the Strikers. Hugh Undy must have thought he’d scored when he delivered his free kick that appeared destined to fly in top corner, only for Smith to get a fingertip on it, diving at full extension to somehow tip it onto the post and keep it out. It was a brilliant piece of goalkeeping and when Lutmer headed over the top from the resulting corner, time had run out for Knights and the game ended 1-0 to the Strikers. The title is now secured, albeit not mathematically just yet, as their attention turns to Wednesday night and the Wellington Phoenix.
South Score Crucial Win Over City
Launceston City’s top four hopes were dealt a major blow by South Hobart, as they claimed an important 2-1 win at Buckby Motors Park. First half goals from Jayden Hey and Isky Van Doorne secured the win for South, as they survived a second half push from City that saw them pulling one back via a wonderful free kick from Albert Amankwa just before the half time break.
The first half was a largely even affair but South took their chances the better of the two sides. A clever flick on from Sam Berezansky set up Van Doorne for the opening goal midway through the first half as he emphatically fired home the opener.
Six minutes later and South had doubled their advantage as the ball fell at the feet of Jayden Hey in the penalty area following a blocked Nick Morton shot. Hey showed composure, picked his spot and despite a pretty even opening half hour of play, South were suddenly two goals to the good.
Outside of that 10 minute patch City were solid for most of the game, but they were always facing an uphill battle to try and claw their way back from trailing by multiple goals and it meant South didn’t need to push bodies forward in search of a goal that might’ve left them vulnerable back the other way.
Having earlier rattled the crossbar with a thumping hit from range Amankwa’s free kick just before the half time break gave his side hope. It was sublime technique, getting the ball over the wall and back down to pick out the bottom corner to perfection and cut the lead to 2-1.
South were stout in defence in the second half, they are generally a very good side playing with a lead and City struggled to create clear cut scoring chances in a second half largely devoid of them. Amankwa’s 66th minute diving header that was nicely saved by Michael Hurd was as close as they would come as South secured the win.
The victory now leaves the gap between the two sides at five points. They still have one more game to play against each other to make up for their postponed Round 2 clash, but it undoubtedly makes things quite tough for City to now crack that top four and it thrusts South firmly back into the midst of the battle for second.
Riverside Frustrate Lions
The Kingborough Lions moved back into second place with a 1-0 win over Riverside at Windsor Park, though given the amount of play they had around the Roos penalty area, they will probably be feeling it should’ve been by more. For the second time this year a stellar defensive effort from Riverside left the Lions frustrated, as they struggled to hit the back of the net despite dominating in general play.
The Roos have sat a little deeper of late and brought a more defensive first approach to their game. It was an approach that nearly saw them earn a point at the Den earlier in the season and through the first half it had them on the way to earning a point here as the game reached half time at 0-0.
But playing on the back foot and sitting so deep brings with it its own set of challenges. A failure to clear the ball properly can be punished by opposition bodies in the box and so it proved as Freddy Hess finally broke the deadlock just before the hour mark. A defensive header lobbed into the path of the in form Hess who chested it down then swung his right foot at a volley he caught delightfully. He hammered the ball into the bottom corner and gave his side the 1-0 lead.
The Lions would continue to dominate the final 30 minutes of the contest but couldn’t find a second goal. There is always a danger when you leave the door ajar by not killing things off by finding that second goal, but the Roos couldn’t produce a moment on the counter to seriously threaten the Lions goal and the game would end at 1-0.
It’s another step in the right direction for the Roos, whose defensive efforts have been much better in recent weeks and has seen them avoid the blowouts from earlier in the year. For the Lions, they avoid the banana skin and get the three points. They will need to be more clinical in the coming weeks to stay second but 3 points are 3 points and they got precisely what they needed here.
Dillon Destroys Warriors
In a weekend of tight results across the competition the outlier came at Wentworth Park where the Clarence Zebras scored a massive 5-0 win over the Olympia Warriors in the Eastern Shore Derby to continue their Derby dominance.
The Warriors had shown some positive signs over the past month and appeared set to run the Zebras closer than the prior 2 clashes this season, but this was anything but. The Zebras utterly dominated this contest from start to finish and if not for the woodwork, which they hit three times throughout the game, the final score may have been even more decisive.
The opening goal came 13 minutes in as Samuel Tooze, beat the offside trap, beat the keeper to the ball and rounded him before passing it into the back of the net. The ball was played through to him by the outstanding Riley Dillon, who carved the Warriors apart time and time again and was by a distance the best player on the park.
After the woodwork had saved the Warriors once, Dillon then made it 2-0 himself as he turned one back from a tight angle that seemed to catch the keeper by surprise.
A third goal felt like it was coming for much of the time in between and the Zebras made it 3-0 just before the hour mark with Dillon again at the heart of it. He utterly toyed with his defensive marker, beating him all ends up before drawing the keeper out to him at the near post. He then squared it up to an arriving Samuel Tooze who had an empty net to finish into.
It was just the secondary assist for Dillon on goal number 4, working it to Dwayne Walsh who sprung Matthew Pace to storm in behind the defence and make it 4-0. The Zebras then added one more for good measure as Lachie Burt hammered home a thumping finish in the final minute to seal a comprehensive 5-0 win.
The victory makes it 8 from 8 derby wins since the Zebras merger occurred and ensured the Warriors wait for a win over their rivals will extend into 2023.