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Chasing pack can gain ground on Northern Rangers |
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Written by Walter Pless
Friday, 01 May 2009 09:25
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 Photo: Devonport City welcome back Paul Scicluna against Somerset
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RIVERSIDE OLYMPIC V ULVERSTONE
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Windsor Park, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
Fourth-placed Ulverstone must be confident of beating seventh-ranked Riverside Olympic away from home after knocking off Prospect Knights last weekend.
Coach Kim Rigby will make only one change to last week’s side, bringing in Callum Foote, who was missing last week, in place of Will Cox-Haines, who is unavailable.
“Will is a 15- or 16-year-old and has played all our seniors games this year after spending last year in the under 18s,” said Rigby. “He has performed very well and will be missed.
“We gave a senior debut to another 16-year-old, Michael Groom, last week and he will retain his starting position.
“Adrian Beard, the captain, is still unavailable as he is on the mainland doing a 5-day event involving running, cycling, canoeing and so on.
“Brian Tabrett, our vice-captain, returned last week for his first full game this year and is not too far off full fitness.
“Riverside has had the wood on us over the last few seasons and has consistently beaten us by the odd goal, so we hope to reverse this trend on Saturday.
“A win will keep us up with the leader, which is crucial for us as we have the bye next round.
“Of note is the fact that last week our oldest player was John Cornell at 28 and, after substituting him late in the game, our eldest was 22.
“We finished the game with an age range of 15 to 22, a pleasing scenario for the club’s future.”
Riverside Olympic will have Ryan McCarragher back, but captain Robbie Hughes is still out because of a hamstring injury.
McCarragher will replace Riverside’s coach, Troy Scott, who has decided to watch the game from the sidelines.
“We’ve trained really well and we’ve nearly got our strongest squad, apart from Robbie, of course, available,” said Scott.
“We should come away with the points.”
Prediction: Riverside Olympic
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PROSPECT KNIGHTS V BURNIE UNITED
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Harley Parade, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
Fifth-placed Prospect Knights have a lot to prove in this match and they must be pleased that they are at home against sixth-ranked Burnie United.
The Knights suffered a humiliating loss last weekend to Ulverstone and went into free-fall on the ladder.
Burnie did not have a happy weekend either, succumbing 5-1 to Devonport City.
The television news and the FFT website gave the score-line as 5-1 in Burnie’s favour, which must have delighted the Burnie fans who weren’t at the game.
But, they soon realised the truth and their dreams were shattered.
Chris McKenna had been back to his old ways and hammered home a hat-trick.
Burnie have girded their loins, however, and are ready for this battle.
“Prospect were looking good up until probably last week, when they lost 1-0 to Ulverstone,” said Burnie United coach, Ray Parke.
“I believe now that they’re beatable because they and Northern Rangers looked the teams to beat this year.
“With that result, I think it’s given our boys a wee bit of confidence going up there that maybe they can do something.
“But, I do have my striker Aston Johnson out. He’s got a broken toe, so he’s got a plaster caste up to his knee and is definitely out.
“Other than that, we’ve got Adam Gillett back, who’s been out for a couple of weeks.
“Other than Johnson out and Gillett in, we’re going with basically the same team as last week.”
Prediction: Prospect Knights
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LAUNCESTON UNITED V LAUNCESTON CITY
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Birch Avenue, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
This bottom-of-the-table clash is, in effect, a 6-pointer for both sides as a loss could spell doom for this season.
The home side’s defence is shipping goals at an alarming rate and last weekend’s 10-0 drubbing at the feet of Somerset can hardly have improved the psychological well being of the players.
But, United coach Brian Dracup is ever the optimist and fancies his side’s chances against second-last City.
“After the disaster of last week, there have been a few changes,” said Dracup.
“We’ve changed a few of the personnel in there.
“Last week’s score was very embarrassing and, hopefully, we’ll get a big turnaround this week.
“It wasn’t a total disaster, but it didn’t go down well at all. It was not well received and we’ve certainly worked on things this week and worked very hard.
“As I said, there are a number of changes. There are certainly three in the starting eleven and a couple on the bench.
“I think we can win against City. They’re only just ahead of us and I think, fingers crossed, we should have the personnel this week to do it and people to give us a little bit more of what we desire, a little more input from them.
“There were virtually some passengers there last week and, certainly, we can’t afford that.
“We need everyone to give one hundred per cent.”
Launceston City have scored slightly more goals and conceded many fewer than United and, even though they are away from home, they should just sneak a win.
Prediction: Launceston City
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DEVONPORT CITY V SOMERSET
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Valley Road, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
This game is a fight for second place as both sides have 9 points and are 4 points adrift of leaders Northern Rangers, who have the bye.
A win would put the victor only a point behind Rangers and the pressure would be on the league-leaders.
Somerset will have been buoyed by last weekend’s 10-0 demolition of Launceston United, but Devonport City are a different kettle of fish.
Devonport beat Burnie United 5-1 last weekend and so their confidence will also be sky high.
Devonport may field the same side that played against Burnie, but Paul Scicluna is back after being unavailable last weekend and Scott Wilson impressed in the reserves in his first game of the season and may be included in the squad.
“It’s always a pretty intense game when we play Somerset and, while they’ve lost a few good players from previous years, they’ve picked up some more than handy replacements, so this year should be no different,” said Devonport’s hat-trick hero of last week, Chris McKenna.
“We drew with them in the first round of the Summer Cup this year and they got over us in the final, so we’re keen to get one back on them this weekend and continue our climb up the ladder.
“We’ve been able to find the net 16 times in the last three games, so, hopefully, we can continue along those lines in this weekend’s game.”
Prediction: Devonport City
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Last Updated on Friday, 11 February 2011 06:06 |
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Fight for first place in Southern Premier League should continue to be close |
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Written by Walter Pless
Friday, 01 May 2009 07:55
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 Photos (Top to Bottom): Chris Tsakiris is back for Hobart Olympic against Clarence; Olympic's Paul Kaproulias will return for the Clarence match; Troy Kaden is back in goal for Zebras; Frank Mainella has made way for Troy Kaden; George Krambousanos, coach of New Town Eagles; Ben Crosswell in fine form for Zebras; Bart Beecroft not yet ready to play for South Hobart; Zebras coach, Nick Lapolla
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NEW TOWN EAGLES V GLENORCHY KNIGHTS
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Clare Street, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
Fifth-placed New Town Eagles host sixth-ranked Glenorchy Knights at Clare Street on Saturday in what should be a close game.
Both sides have 9 points and the Knights just scraped home 4-3 in their first-round encounter.
Eagles, one of only two teams to have scored in every game - the other is Zebras - have improved since then and are confident of winning.
“This should be the match of the round and it’s important for both teams to win in order to keep up with the leading four sides and get further away from the bottom two,” said Eagles coach, Georger Krambousanos.
Eagles will miss defender Matthew Rybak once again, while Wade Savage is doubtful after being substituted because of a persistent knee injury last weekend.
Goalkeeper Michael Soszynski should be back for Eagles after serving a one-match ban resulting from his dismissal against South Hobart a couple of weeks ago.
Knights have lost their past two games and will be desperate for a win to lift them up the ladder.
Their defensive problems were clearly evident in last week’s 6-1 loss to Tilford Zebras.
Poor goalkeeping, poor communication between the goalkeeper and his defenders, and an inability or unwillingness to track opponents and to cut out through balls were all factors.
Coach Eamonn Kelly will have to work on these aspects of his side’s game and he may need to consider a change of personnel.
If the Knights can get these things right, they are in with a real chance against an Eagles outfit that emphasises defence and counter-attack.
Prediction: Glenorchy Knights
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SOUTH HOBART V UNIVERSITY
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South Hobart, 2.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
South Hobart should be untroubled in maintaining top spot on the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League ladder on Saturday because they should easily account for bottom-side University at Washington Street.
The reigning league champions should make it three wins in a row because University have lost all seven of their games and look the favourites for relegation.
The first-round match between these teams was won 3-0 by South Hobart, but at considerable cost as captain Bart Beecroft was injured and has not played since.
Coach Ken Morton said that Beecroft is still about two months away from action.
South Hobart may even pull three points clear at the top as second-placed Tilford Zebras have a difficult away fixture against third-ranked Kingborough Lions United at Lightwood Park on Sunday.
Morton is wary of University and knows they must turn the corner sooner or later. He hopes it is not against his side this weekend.
He watches part of University’s match last weekend against New Town Eagles and saw their potential.
University will find the going even tougher away from home and are unlikely to turn the corner this time out.
Prediction: South Hobart
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CLARENCE UNITED V HOBART OLYMPIC
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Wentworth Park, 6.30pm, Saturday, 2 May 2009
Third-placed Clarence United have earned just one point from a possible nine from their past three outings and must beat second-last Hobart Olympic at home at Wentworth Park in a night match on Saturday to get their title chase back on track.
Clarence coach Andrew Brown does not expect to make any changes to the team that lost 3-0 at this venue to South Hobart last Saturday night.
Olympic suffered a meltdown in the closing stages of their match against Kingborough Lions United last weekend and lost 2-1, which means coach Farrell Shaw must impress upon his players the need to concentrate for 90 minutes.
Olympic will be without suspended midfielder Carl Larzabal, who scored the goal against the Lions last weekend but was later sent off.
They will be strengthened by the return of Chris Tsakiris and Paul Kaproulias.
The sides drew 0-0 in torrential rain at South Hobart in the first round. Let us hope that conditions won’t be the same this time.
Prediction: Clarence United
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KINGBOROUGH LIONS UNITED V TILFORD ZEBRAS
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Lightwood Park, 2.30pm, Sunday, 3 May 2009
Tilford Zebras drew 4-4 with Kingborough Lions Umited in the first round and neither side can be confident of a victory this time.
Zebras will be going for their fifth successive win and this is the stuff of which league titles are made, so the incentive is certainly there for a determined performance.
Zebras go into this game after demolishing Glenorchy Knights 6-1 last weekend, but poor defending by the Knights contributed significantly to that score-line.
Nevertheless, the Zebras will have gained enormous confidence from that result and will be determined to earn the three points in style.
Central defender Ryan Smith, who missed the game against the Knights through illness, returns to the Zebras line-up, as does goalkeeper Troy Kaden, who is preferred to Frank Mainella.
“Everyone else is fit so it’s back to our normal squad,” said Zebras coach, Nick Lapolla. “It’s not going to be 4-4 again.
“I guarantee it won’t be. It won’t be a goal feast like that if we can help it.
“You’ve always got to be confident going into a game. If we play the way we have been, we’re always going to win.
“Dwayne Walsh finally got his confidence with four goals last week and he was banging them into the back of the net at training on Thursday and Troy was getting out of the way.
“Crosswell and Walsh are starting to play together now, which is good.”
The Lions defence should be a tougher proposition with Michael Wells due to return to the line-up.
With Charles White also back in the team, Kingborough should provide formidable opposition.
They will, however, be without the suspended midfielder Brett Andrews, who was sent off against Olympic last weekend and his forceful presence will be missed.
Prediction: Tilford Zebras
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Last Updated on Friday, 01 May 2009 11:23 |
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Olympic lose in last few minutes to the Lions |
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Written by Walter Pless
Monday, 27 April 2009 09:37
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 Photos (Top to Bottom): Kingborough's Tom McDonald (No. 9) in an aerial duel with Olympic's Lee Mason; Kingborough keeper Jason Voss flies through the air as Lee Mason's shot rebounds from the crossbar; Olympic's Peter Tsakiris (left) beats Tom McDonald to the ball; Olympic's Robert Lebski receiving a hand-up from referee Craig Phillips and team-mate Peter Tsakiris; Robert Lebski tangles with Brett Andrews; Kingborough's marking system at the back; Olympic's Adam Hedge wins a header in midfield; Kingborough's super-sub Greg Freeman; Hobart Olympic's excellent keeper Dmitri Nester, who made a brilliant save in teh first half from Marcello Marchioli
Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League, South Hobart, Sunday, 26 April 2009
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Hobart Olympic 1 (Larzabal 58)
Kingborough Lions United 2 (D Pearce 84, Freeman 86)
HT: 0-0 Att: 120 Ref: C Phillips
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Hobart Olympic: Nester - Lebski, Y Mohamad, P Tsakiris, Tsimiklis - Larzabal, Mason, A Hedge, Djekanovic (Conquest 85) - Bulis, Kunwar (Richardson 38) [Substitutes not used: E Tsakiris, Plomaritis] [Coach: F Shaw]
Kingborough Lions United: Voss - Palmer, Iseli, D Pearce (McConnon 87), Kerr - Bevan, Andrews, Marchioli, R Hinkley - T Pearce (Greg Freeman 68), McDonald (Bremner 92) [Substitute not used: Leamey] [Coach: Geoff Freeman]
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This win lifted Kingborough Lions United to third place on the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League ladder and dumped Hobart Olympic to second-last spot.
The Lions were without Charles White - his wife had given birth to their first child the day before - and Andrew Kerr came in to the side.
Trent Pearce also made his debut in attack.
Olympic were missing Chris Tsakiris and Paul Kaproulias, but the former Glenorchy Knights striker Lincoln Conquest made his first appearance for the club as a substitute after missing a couple of seasons through illness.
The first half was a forgettable affair with very few chances.
Olympic’s best came when Michael Bulis raced clear on the right of the box but shot wide.
At the other end, a brilliant save by Dmitri Nester saved Olympic. Tom McDonald had put Marcello Marchioli in on the left side of the box and a goal appeared certain, but Nester somehow got an arm to the shot and deflected the ball over the bar.
Olympic lost the lively and quick Dipendra Kunwar after 35 minutes when he copped a shot in the nether regions and failed to recover.
Ten minutes into the second half, Bulis failed to capitalise on a blunder by keeper Jason Voss, who dropped the ball at the striker’s feet. Bulis may have been caught by surprise at this generosity and he blazed high and wide of the target.
Three minutes later, he did much better as he played a ball wide to the left for Danijel Djekanovic, whose delightful cross to the far side of the box was expertly steered inside the far left-hand post by Carl Larzabal with a header.
Olympic were not content with just a one-goal lead and Lee Mason crashed a great shot against the Kingborough bar from long range. Voss may just have got a hand to it to force the ball onto the woodwork.
A spat between Larzabal and Kingborough’s Brett Andrews in the 81st minute saw Larzabal sent off. After consulting his assistant, Mr Phillips also dismissed Andrews.
Three minutes later, Kingborough made the most of the extra space provided by a ten versus 10 encounter to equalise.
Ross Hinkley floated a free-kick from deep on the left towards the far post and Damien Pearce headed past Nester to make it 1-1.
Two minutes later, Lions substitute Greg Freeman hit the winner following Ryan Bevan’s corner from the left.
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- Hobart Olympic coach, Farrell Shaw, said:
“It was a game that could have gone either way.
“In the first half they played better than us. They’re a more counter-attacking side than us.
“In the second half, we came out and started a bit scrappy and got better as the game went on.
“We fell asleep in the last five minutes because of the send-offs and the altercation with the crowd and we just stood still and we stopped.
“Two set plays, and they scored. Unfortunately, that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“If you stop playing, you stop.”
- Kingborough Lions United coach, Geoff Freeman, said:
“It wasn’t a pretty game, particularly because they were quite content to play the long ball and try and work their two front guys in, Bulis and Dippa, who are both quite quick.
“Particularly early, they caught us on the hop a couple of times.
“We probably tries to play similarly, which is strange because that’s not how we train and how we endeavour to go out and play.
“In the second half we tried to play a little bit more our style.
“It was a scrappy game. Happy to come away with the win.
“Greg is proving a super sub. He might not be able to get a start if he keeps this up.
“Pleased with the win and pleased with the boys and also really happy that Andrew Kerr came in and was quite good at the back there, and Trent Pearce for his first start showed he is a promising player for the future.”
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STATISTICS
HOBART OLYMPIC KINGBOROUGH
9 Goal Attempts 13
3 Shots on Target 6
3 Corners 6
17 Fouls Committed 11
3 Off-Sides 1
1 (Mohamad 94) Yellow Cards 1 (Marchioli 68)
1 (Larzabal 81) Red Cards 1 (Andrews 81)
Hobart Olympic:
PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Bulis 3 0
Kunwar 1 1
Lebski 2 0
Larzabal 1 1
Mason 1 1
Hedge 1 0
Kingborough Lions United:
PLAYER GOAL ATTEMPTS SHOTS ON TARGET
Hinkley 2 1
T Pearce 1 0
McDonald 3 0
Marchioli 2 1
D Pearce 2 2
Iseli 1 0
Freeman 2 2
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Last Updated on Monday, 27 April 2009 18:13 |
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Written by Walter Pless
Monday, 27 April 2009 07:55
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 Photos (Top to Bottom): Olympic's Dipendra Kunwar lasted only 35 minutes of the match; Voss saves an Olympic shot; Peter Tsakiris clears ahead of the Lions' Tom McDonald; The two No 14s don't know where the ball is; Andrews sees red; Larzabal is shown the red card by Mr Phillips; Olympic's Adam Hedge shields the ball from Kingborough's Marc Iseli
Four goals by Dwayne Walsh and two by Ben Crosswell powered Tilford Zebras to a 6-1 win over Glenorchy Knights at KGV Park on Friday night.
The win put Zebras on top of the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League ladder, but they dropped back to second place on goal-difference 24 hours later when South Hobart beat third-placed Clarence United 3-0 at Wentworth Park on Saturday night and resumed the leadership.
Two first-half strikes by Kostas Kanakaris and one by Jonathon Ladic gave South their win over Clarence in the first senior men’s night match at Wentworth Park, which was played before the biggest league attendance this season.
Knights squandered the chance to take the lead against the Zebras when Amadu Koroma had a tame effort cleared off the line by Andrew Telega.
Zebras immediately took advantage of some poor defending to race to a 2-0 lead in the opening five minutes as Walsh and Crosswell both got off the mark.
Walsh made it 1-0 when he hammered home the loose ball, which was dropped at his feet by Knights goalkeeper Ben Peter, who was impeded in going for Jayden Welch’s cross by team-mate Anthony Grundy.
Crosswell added the second when Knights failed to cut out a long ball forward by Henry Fagg.
Jade Clay pulled a goal back for the Knights in the 23rd minute, but Walsh restored the Zebras’ two-goal buffer before the interval after good work down the left by Welch and Crosswell.
Walsh completed his hat-trick with a quickly-taken free-kick in the 78th minute, awarded for Grundy’s foul on Crosswell, and then made it 5-1 nine minutes from the end with a fine finish after beating defender Jackson Marsh to Michael Connolly’s deep cross from the left.
Crosswell completed the rout in the 85th minute, beating Alex Holmes to Ricky Self’s cross from the byline on the right and heading powerfully past Peter.
South Hobart goalkeeper Ben Kruijver was the man-of-the-match against Clarence as he made at least five outstanding saves to deny the home side the chance of possibly snatching a point.
The visitors exploited deficiencies on the flanks as Liam Scott and Ricky Eaves made forward runs and set up team-mates with crosses.
Kanakaris made it 1-0 in the 12th minute after Scott’s cross from the left, while Ladic headed the second in the 21st minute, converting Eaves’s near-post cross from the right.
Kanakaris added the third on the half-hour, again from Scott’s pass, to put South level on 16 points with Zebras but with a better goal-difference edging them ahead in the standings.
In the Forestry Tasmania Northern Premier League on Saturday, Somerset smashed bottom-side Launceston United 11-0 on Saturday after leading 4-0 at half-time and moved from sixth to second place on the ladder.
Northern Rangers stayed top of the table with a 3-0 home win over second-last Launceston City on Saturday night at the NTCA ground.
Goals by Derek Schipper and Mark Ambrose gave Rangers a 2-0 lead at the break, while Paul Bremner added the third.
On Sunday, Kingborough Lions United moved up a place to third on the southern Premier League ladder with a 2-1 win over sixth-placed Hobart Olympic at South Hobart..
Olympic dropped a place to second-last because New Town Eagles downed bottom-side University 3-0 at Clare Street to move up to fifth place on goal-difference.
Olympic and Lions were level at 0-0 at half-time after a poor opening 45 minutes which saw Olympic lose striker Dipendra Kunwar through injury and Michael Bulis shoot just wide when clean through on goal.
Kingborough’s only chance came when Tom McDonald set up Marcello Marchioli, whose shot was turned over the bar for a corner by goalkeeper Dmitri Nester.
Carl Larzabal headed Olympic in front in the 58th minute after good play on the left by Bulis and Danijel Djekanovic.
Olympic almost added another in the 62nd minute, but Lee Mason’s excellent shot from long range came back off the crossbar after keeper Jason Voss appeared to get his fingers to the ball.
Larzabal and Kingborough’s Brett Andrews were sent off after an altercation in the 81st minute and, three minutes later, Damien Pearce headed the Lions level from a free-kick by Ross Hinkley.
In the 86th minute, Greg Freeman again proved a super-sub when he struck the winner following Ryan Bevan’s corner.
First-half goals by Jacob Kavanagh and Adam McKeown gave Eagles a 2-0 lead over University at the break, while Alex Gordon hit the third.
With the first round of seven matches completed, University looks a clear favourite for relegation.
In the north on Sunday, Ulverstone pulled off a fine win, downing Prospect Knights 1-0.
Devonport City beat Burnie United 5-1.
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Last Updated on Monday, 27 April 2009 08:28 |
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