The Round 2 Wash-Up
Welcome to the Weekend Wash-Up for Round 2 of the McDonald's NPL Tasmania season. It was a rather contrasting weekend of football with two complete blowouts up North and two absolute thrillers in the South that went down to the final minutes.
The Strikers bounced back with a big win which wasn’t entirely unexpected, this is generally not a side you want to play coming off a bad result and Launceston United learned that the hard way as they fell to a heavy 6-1 loss. The Lions also had a thumping win, burying Riverside 5-1 with the reigning Best and Fairest winner Kobe Kemp showing the type of play that led him to that award and suggests he will be up there again in 2023.
The close matches were down in the South though, as Launceston City stunned the Glenorchy Knights with a stoppage time winner, whilst both South Hobart and the Clarence Zebras came within a whisker of victory, but ultimately had to settle for a point apiece in a 2-2 draw.
On the whole it was an interesting weekend of football and at its conclusion it’s Launceston City sitting pretty on top of the table, as the Daniel Syson era begins with some serious promise. They are the only side sitting 2 wins from 2, which is a great place for the League to be in and suggests a very even year may be in store.
City Snatch It Late
We will start with our Ladder leaders: Launceston City, who stunned the Glenorchy Knights with a 1-0 victory at KGV as Jack Woodland struck a 92nd minute winner in front of a raucous crowd at KGV.
Mark Twain once said that “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” Well it certainly rhymed at KGV on Saturday evening. In Round 6 of last season in this corresponding fixture it was Jaden Fidra who scored a 93rd minute winner for City to break a 0-0 tie late on and so it proved once again, with Woodland making himself the hero this time. Last year it was a bit of a smash and grab result, but this year Knights could have few complaints about the final score. On balance of play City were worthy victors and good value for the three points.
There are entertaining 0-0’s and boring 0-0’s and fortunately up till Woodland’s late intervention this was very much in the former camp. It wasn’t through a lack of chances that we didn’t have a goal, with some wayward finishing and superb goalkeeping contributing to the lack of goals throughout the 90 minutes.
In game #150, Joel Stone showed his class and trademark skills and he cut a delighted figure in the post-game celebrations. He has been a tremendous player in the NPL for a long time now and will surely go down as one of the greatest players in the league’s history. It was great to see his contributions celebrated.
Also of note was that City were buoyed on by a bumper crowd of City youth players who had come across from the Tasmania Cup to lend their support and they made for a cracking atmosphere. I'm sure the hours on the coach ride probably ensured it still felt like a road match for the players, but in terms of crowd support they certainly had the edge here despite being at the other end of the state. And boy did those youngsters go ballistic when Woodland swept home his late winner after being found in the area by Stefan Tantari crossing from the left in the dying moments of the game. It got loud!
The late goal ensures City will sit atop the table at the end of Round 2 as the only side to win both their opening games and sets up a tantalizing clash with Devonport next Saturday at Valley Road. For Knights, it was a familiar problem from last season, ponderous in possession and lacking a cutting edge in attack.
Strikers Explode Late to Hammer United
The Devonport Strikers shrugged off their opening week stumble to comfortably account for Launceston United 6-1 at Valley Road.
United were solid defensively for large swathes of this one before being completely overrun in the final 20 minutes of the match. At half time it was 0-0 and after 78 minutes just 2-0 before the Strikers added four more goals in the final fifteen minutes.
Roberto Fernandez Garrido bagged a brace and was joined on the score sheet by Denehey, Barnard, Wilson and Luke Bennett who scored the pick of the goals with a sumptuous volley from the top of the box to close things out.
For United, it seemed they were overwhelmed by the Strikers and struggled to maintain possession. The constant pressure their defence faced meant the dam wall was always likely to break, though they did at least manage to get their first goal in the McDonald's NPL Tasmania via import Walter Da Silva.
The highlight of the game for me was the sheer exuberance shown by Miles “The Fox in the Box” Barnard after he came off the bench and scored, tearing off in celebration. I’ve always liked a player who celebrates a goal with passion and you’ll see few people enjoying a goal more than that one from the returning Fox. His goals have proved important down the years in this Devonport Dynasty and I expect he may yet play a key role in the 2023 season for the Strikers.
Lions Roar at Windsor Park
It was a similarly one-sided affair over at Windsor Park as the Kingborough Lions flexed their muscles and comfortably accounted for Riverside Olympic 5-1.
It was a dominant afternoon from the Lions who controlled the contest from start to finish to claim their first points of the 2023 season.
Kobe Kemp opened the scoring on 18 minutes and if not for a combination of some sharp work from Daniel Nash between the sticks and the woodwork which the Lions rattled twice, it would’ve been far more than just 1-0 at the half time break, with the Lions dominating proceedings.
The Lions were more decisive in the second half though and they quickly killed the contest upon resumption of play. Declan Taylor set up Kobe Kemp for his second to make it 2-0 shortly after the restart before Kemp in turn assisted Taylor 10 minutes later, who produced a quality header to make it 3-0.
Liam Poulson pulled one back for the hosts from the penalty spot after Tom Milner was fouled but Keenan Douce produced a sublime volley at the back post and Noah Mies fired home from close range to see the Lions pull further away by full time.
For the Lions this was three points they would’ve expected to claim, but they will be happy with how their attack clicked in that second half. Riverside will be disappointed, it was always going to be a tough year but keeping it close and avoiding blowouts such as this has to be the expectation for the Roos.
High Drama at Darcy Street
In Sunday’s fixture the Clarence Zebras scored a late equalizer to claim a 2-2 draw with South Hobart in a thriller at Darcy Street.
The Zebras started the brighter of the two sides and quickly took the lead through Xuan Cappellino who continued his excellent start to his NPL career by scrapping one home at the back post to make it 1-0 after five minutes.
The Zebras were then extremely fortunate to remain at full strength when Riley Dillon was surprisingly only shown a yellow card for an elbow to the face of Van Doorne on 13 minutes.
The Canadian would have his revenge minutes later when Van Doorne fired past Jones at the second time of asking, after his first shot was well stopped, only for the rebound the land back in the path of the attacker who made no mistake.
From there the first half ebbed and flowed from end to end, with a furious pace to the play and the Zebras having the better of the chances.
It was South who took the lead before the break however, when Lachie Semmler scored a wonderful goal. Starting deep in his own half, Semmler combined with Lakoseljac before bursting in behind the defence, getting the better of Adjei and firing into the bottom corner of the net. It was top drawer goal from the youngster and gave South the lead at the break, which felt a little harsh on the Zebras.
That 2-1 scoreline seemed fair enough as the second half progressed though with South really getting on top in the second half and starting to dominate the contest. It felt like a goal was inevitable, but they couldn’t conjure one and thus left the door ajar for late heartbreak.
Again it was a set-piece which brought about their undoing as Cappellino nodded forwards from the corner before Tooze redirected it to square the game and setup a grandstand finish, with both sides almost snatching all three points in the dying embers.
First the Zebras had their celebrations halted when they had a goal ruled out for offside against Benjamin Tilley after a chat between the referee and his assistant.
Then it was South’s turn to nearly steal it when the ball fell to Gus Higgins at the back post with the goal at his mercy, only for Joshua Burgess to block it away and save the day in the final action of a thrilling match.
You’d fancy Clarence are the happier of the two camps with the draw, despite undoubtedly being frustrated by thinking they had scored that late winner. They remain undefeated and look a significantly improved side this year whilst South will rue not killing the game off whilst they were firmly in the ascendancy in the second half.
Congratulations to the other milestone man of the weekend, Zebras skipper Ryan Cook who raised the bat with game #100. He had a fine game against South showing the leadership at the back that earned him the armband.
McDonald’s NPL Tasmania
Round 2
Riverside Olympic 1 (Liam Poulson 74')
Kingborough Lions 5 (Kobe Kemp 18' 49', Declan Taylor 70', Keenan Douce 79', Noah Mies 83')
Glenorchy Knights 0
Launceston City 1 (Jack Woodland, 90+2')
Goal Highlights Match Highlights
Devonport Strikers 6 (Roberto Fernandez-Garrido 57'78', Brody Denehey 68', Miles Barnard 83’, Eli Wilson 90+2', Luke Bennett 90+6')
Launceston United 1 (Da Silva 84')
South Hobart 2 (Isky Van Doorne 15' Lachlan Semmler 41')
Clarence Zebras 2 (Xuan Cappellino 5' Samuel Tooze 84')