NPL Summer Cup
South Hobart 8 (Kasper Hallam x4 Sam Berezansky, Bradley Lakoseljac, Jacob Lancaster and Alex Brown d Riverside Olympic 1 (Will Humphrey) at D’arcy St.
South Hobart stormed home to victory in their opening NPL Summer Cup clash v Launceston’s Riverside. I arrived at the ground a little late due to coming from KGV, but not too late to miss Hallam’s hat-trick moments later. Hallam just screams pace and is a dangerous threat up the wings.
Lancaster continued his scoring ways and Brown scored on debut. Riverside could only manage a consolation penalty from William Humphrey. South will now have a bye while the visitors will host last year’s NPL runners up Glenorchy Knights next Saturday.
Kingborough Lions 2 (Kobe Kemp, Ben Hamlett) d Clarence Zebras 1 (Thomas Backhouse) at KGV
Kingborough have held off a brave young Clarence Zebras outfit in a 2-1 win at KGV. It’s worth noting that Zebras home games will be at KGV until the touch football season finishes at Wentworth Park. Lions started with a very inclosed back four formation which left little room down the wings. There was lots of experiments from Lions coach Jez Kenth playing Jack Turner at center-back instead of striker and Joseph Juma as a full back.
Kobe Kemp and Ben Hamlett both scored for their new club in the first-half while Keenan Douce copped an open studs tackle before the break, which followed with a similar knock to Kemp in the second-half. Douce was okay to continue but Kemp did appear to be in some discomfort and couldn’t walk off the knock thus making his way to the bench.
Zebras came out all guns blazing in the second half with their hard work finally being rewarded. In his debut Thomas Backhouse got the home side back into the game with 15 minutes to play.
With everything riding on the final kick of the game. Dillion had the chance to make it 2-2 and send the game to penalties as per the competition rules for the pre-season competition. Debutant Lions keeper James Ross was saved by the posts as Dillion’s shot came back into play.
Kingborough escape with the points and will now play Olympia Warriors at Lightwood next Saturday while Zebras will return to KGV v Launceston City.
City were thrashed 9-0 by the Warriors in our final Summer Cup clash for the day. Jake Vandermey who is usually a defender was at centre-forward scoring a hat-trick before half-time while Joel Sammut gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead. Super sub Warren Wadawu made good to that tag scoring four goals in just ten minutes to put City well and truely to bed. City will now play Clarence Zebras next Saturday.
Not looking good for the two Northern sides Riverside and City.. but hey it’s pre-season still.
WSL Summer Cup
Kingborough Lions 16 (Laura Davis 8, Danielle Kannegiesser 2, Bronte Gadon 3, Kate Bonertz-Benn 1 and Holly Bonertz-Benn 2) d New Town White Eagles 0 at Lightwood Park.
Where do you even begin with a scoreline of this margin? Kingborough were obviously the superior team but there are a few back stories to this. New Town played their first women’s competitive game since 2013 which ended up being a day to forget. Although Eagles started out strong the might of the Lions soon began to roar. New signings Nina Daniels, Elke Peterson, Kate Le Roux and captain Ellen Curtis all played.
Striker Laura Davis already had a first-half hat-trick before the break while Kannegiesser and Gadon both scored for their new club. Gadon went onto score a hat-trick in her own right and Kannegiesser sent in countless assists. Eagles coach Shane Revell said to the team at HT “if we can score just one that would mean so much for the club” Unfortunately for them that did not come true.
Holly Bonertz-Benn after half-time scored the best goal i’ve seen live in years. Bonertz-Benn kicked off the second-half and ran down the midfield corridor. Darting past three defenders and dribbled into the tightest of left angles, Bonertz-Benn picked out the top right corner from the half way mark past the keeper in what was a moment of brilliance. I wish I recorded it but it’s any wonder that the twins were announced as potential Young Matildas earlier this week along with team-mate Eloise Paine, Annalee Bidwell and Jessica McCallum-Smith.
Kingborough will now host South Hobart next Saturday while New Town will hope for a better performance against Clarence Zebras. It won’t be an easy task given Zebras won 4-1 away at D’Arcy St earlier.
Taroona FC also stormed home to victory over Knights 7- 0 with Eli Cropp scoring a brace while Josephine Painter, Holly Ayton, Maeve Dunbabin, Ineeka Link and Mei Booker all contributed to the tally.
It’s still not the time to write off New Town. It was their first hit-out and although the result was disappointing they will learn from this and go again. They will benefit from this cup in the long run and hope to apply some form into the Southern Championship. But that’s for another day.
NPL Summer Cup MD2
Saturday Feb 27th
2:00pm. Riverside Olympic v Glenorchy Knights at Windsor Park
2:30pm. Clarence Zebras v Launceston City at KGV
5:00pm. Kingborough Lions v Olympia Warriors at Lightwood Park
South Hobart bye
WSL Summer Cup MD2
Saturday Feb 27th
2:30pm Kingborough Lions v South Hobart at Lightwood Park
2:30pm. Olympia Warriors v Glenorchy Knights at Warrior Park
5:00pm. Clarence Zebras v New Town Eagles at KGV
Taroona bye
