The Hobart Zebras held the Devonport Strikers to a 2-2 draw in a highly dramatic, and physical affair at KGV on Sunday afternoon.
Adam Mckeown seemed the likely hero off the bench again for the Zebras when he put his team ahead in the 92nd minute, but Devonport would not lie down and Daniel Syson poked away his second goal in the 95th minute to earn the Strikers a point against the 9 man Zebras, in what was one of the most frantic periods of stoppage time you’re ever likely to see.
It was a windy KGV and a vengeful Zebras that the North-Westerners found when they arrived, and after slipping into second following Olympia’s win on Friday night they knew that had to bring their A-game on Sunday afternoon.
The game certainly didn’t open up with the intensity that may have been expected but the Strikers seemed to have a fair amount of control early, their best chance falling to Miles Barnard in the 15th minute when a loose clearance from Riley Dillon fell to the fox in the box, but his tame effort from the edge of the area was gathered easily by Sam Whatman in goal.
The most notable moment early on was Jan Charuza’s yellow card for a late sliding-challenge on Jack Dance of which he was rightly shown a slice of cheese for.
From the 25th minute the Zebras started to gather some momentum of their own, much down to the play of Nicky Edwards who was troubling defenders with his dribbling and ability to cut inside, doing just that to force a save out of Pitchford.
[caption id="attachment_12641" align="alignnone" width="554"]
Stone and Edwards were highly influential- PlessPix[/caption]
Devonport continued to do the majority of the attacking but were not creating any clear-cut chances, while the Zebras looked dangerous on their rarer ventures forward.
In the 44th minute that danger showed when Edwards cleverly rolled a ball behind him to Mathew Sanders who rifled a low-ball into the box which Matthew Pace buried clinically with his first touch to put the Zebras one-nil up heading into the break.
The Strikers looked a much more fired up side in the second-half restricting the Zebras to very few chances while Max Fitzgerald and Joel Stone both missed half-chances.
Goal-scorer Pace was shown a slice of cheese in the 55th minute after a moment of frustration resulted in him rugby-tackling Fitzgerald to the ground, and after the pushing and shoving from both sets of players following the foul Jayden Hey was shown a yellow card himself.
In the 70th minute Sanders managed to slip through Pace who had acres of space to run into but couldn’t beat Pitchford who managed to save a certain goal against the run of play.
A minute later and Pace must have been livid as he watched his teammate Jan Charuza receive a second slice of cheese for a foul on Syson in the resulting counter-attack, and his subsequent marching orders.
It would get worse for Zebras when in the 75th minute Devonport substitute Daniel Syson poked home after two flick-ons from Dom Smith and Barnard in the box following a free-kick from out wide by Stone.
At this point it looked like the Strikers would carry on and find another to put themselves clear at the top of the NPL once again, but the Zebras were determined to keep things tight and the back and managed to see off waves of attacks, most notably a brilliant save from Whatman when Barnard looked to lob him from distance but the gloveman was able to grab it out of the sky.
[caption id="attachment_12640" align="alignnone" width="563"]
Dance and Sanders battle away- PlessPix[/caption]
Mckeown, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes finished brilliantly into the top corner after Pace played a clever ball inside to the Zebras veteran to put his side ahead in the 92nd minute.
In the celebrations a brain-snap from Riley Dillon saw him push-over Kieran Mulraney, for which he was shown a straight red-card before both sets of players clashed again after the push for a bit more argy-bargy.
Dillon may have felt it was too late in the game to really matter, but the Strikers thought otherwise, with Syson nodding home his second in the 95th minute after a long throw in from Smith to earn a point for the Zebras.
And if that wasn’t enough action the players got involved in a bit more biff in which Fitzgerald was shown a yellow-card.
After seven minutes of stoppage-time referee Charlie White would blow the full-time whistle and bring an end to what was an extremely entertaining finish to the match.
Zebras coach David Smith seemed proud of his team’s performance despite a disappointing lapse right at the end.
“I thought we played managed to play out against the wind which was bloody hard-work. We created some good chances in the first-half we didn’t take,”
“The second-half we knew we were going to be under the pump… The send-off obviously changes everything.”
The Zebras have taken 5 points from their outings against Devonport this season, having not lost to them once, which Smith puts down to a lack of fear.
“It’s amazing we’ve so many points off Zebras and others can’t. I think they’re frightened of Devonport or something.”
Rick Coghlan was proud of his teams finish but was not happy with the result.
“Away from home against a rival, we’re here to win games, we’re not here to play for a point. To leave two on the table, yeah massively disappointed,”
“(but) A point is better than no points.”
Coghlan was pleased to see some fireworks in the game, even if it did go too far at times.
“It certainly boiled over and I think it shows the rivalry between the clubs which is great, I’m all for it. Maybe not to that extent but there has to be healthy rivalry in top flight competition. It was a wild game with a crazy finish.”
The Strikers look ahead to another huge clash with the Warriors in Devonport next weekend, a match that will play a huge part in the title race.
https://youtu.be/dHdztTegkxQ
https://youtu.be/DO8pbcppmWw
Stone and Edwards were highly influential- PlessPix[/caption]
Devonport continued to do the majority of the attacking but were not creating any clear-cut chances, while the Zebras looked dangerous on their rarer ventures forward.
In the 44th minute that danger showed when Edwards cleverly rolled a ball behind him to Mathew Sanders who rifled a low-ball into the box which Matthew Pace buried clinically with his first touch to put the Zebras one-nil up heading into the break.
The Strikers looked a much more fired up side in the second-half restricting the Zebras to very few chances while Max Fitzgerald and Joel Stone both missed half-chances.
Goal-scorer Pace was shown a slice of cheese in the 55th minute after a moment of frustration resulted in him rugby-tackling Fitzgerald to the ground, and after the pushing and shoving from both sets of players following the foul Jayden Hey was shown a yellow card himself.
In the 70th minute Sanders managed to slip through Pace who had acres of space to run into but couldn’t beat Pitchford who managed to save a certain goal against the run of play.
A minute later and Pace must have been livid as he watched his teammate Jan Charuza receive a second slice of cheese for a foul on Syson in the resulting counter-attack, and his subsequent marching orders.
It would get worse for Zebras when in the 75th minute Devonport substitute Daniel Syson poked home after two flick-ons from Dom Smith and Barnard in the box following a free-kick from out wide by Stone.
At this point it looked like the Strikers would carry on and find another to put themselves clear at the top of the NPL once again, but the Zebras were determined to keep things tight and the back and managed to see off waves of attacks, most notably a brilliant save from Whatman when Barnard looked to lob him from distance but the gloveman was able to grab it out of the sky.
[caption id="attachment_12640" align="alignnone" width="563"] Dance and Sanders battle away- PlessPix[/caption]
Mckeown, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes finished brilliantly into the top corner after Pace played a clever ball inside to the Zebras veteran to put his side ahead in the 92nd minute.
In the celebrations a brain-snap from Riley Dillon saw him push-over Kieran Mulraney, for which he was shown a straight red-card before both sets of players clashed again after the push for a bit more argy-bargy.
Dillon may have felt it was too late in the game to really matter, but the Strikers thought otherwise, with Syson nodding home his second in the 95th minute after a long throw in from Smith to earn a point for the Zebras.
And if that wasn’t enough action the players got involved in a bit more biff in which Fitzgerald was shown a yellow-card.
After seven minutes of stoppage-time referee Charlie White would blow the full-time whistle and bring an end to what was an extremely entertaining finish to the match.
Zebras coach David Smith seemed proud of his team’s performance despite a disappointing lapse right at the end.
“I thought we played managed to play out against the wind which was bloody hard-work. We created some good chances in the first-half we didn’t take,”
“The second-half we knew we were going to be under the pump… The send-off obviously changes everything.”
The Zebras have taken 5 points from their outings against Devonport this season, having not lost to them once, which Smith puts down to a lack of fear.
“It’s amazing we’ve so many points off Zebras and others can’t. I think they’re frightened of Devonport or something.”
Rick Coghlan was proud of his teams finish but was not happy with the result.
“Away from home against a rival, we’re here to win games, we’re not here to play for a point. To leave two on the table, yeah massively disappointed,”
“(but) A point is better than no points.”
Coghlan was pleased to see some fireworks in the game, even if it did go too far at times.
“It certainly boiled over and I think it shows the rivalry between the clubs which is great, I’m all for it. Maybe not to that extent but there has to be healthy rivalry in top flight competition. It was a wild game with a crazy finish.”
The Strikers look ahead to another huge clash with the Warriors in Devonport next weekend, a match that will play a huge part in the title race.
https://youtu.be/dHdztTegkxQ
https://youtu.be/DO8pbcppmWw