Tilford Zebras v South Hobart Match Report 

By Walter Pless

Division Three, Queenswalk, Saturday, 22 April 2006 - A Funny Tale of  Woe for South Hobart

Tilford Zebras 6 (S Robustelli 50, 57, 79, Lalli 68, Cannizzaro 80, 82)

South Hobart 0

HT:  0-0   Ref:  I Colhoun

Tilford Zebras (4-4-2):  A Giusti  -  S Plomaritis, D Giovanoglou, M Beharakis, N Cannizzaro  -  P Lalli, B Ward, P Saric, K Vergiris  -  S Robustelli, J Robustelli [Substitutes:  A Di Florio, J Govalas, M Mascia, S Kaponas]

South Hobart (4-4-2):  C Knight  -  M Fraser, G Knight, A McShane, M O’Leary  -  A Brooks, J Singh, R Bennett, S Biggs  -  A Williamson, S Binns

 South Hobart Division Three

Incident Leading to Caution

"The Zebras are just a Blur to Stephen Biggs"

"Hmm so that's how you win the ball"

"Watch Him he's Fast!"

"Good to see help is available if needed thinks Mr Biggs" 

"Gee when is this going to end....?"

Christopher Knight - Man of the Match

 The Story as Seen by Walter Pless  

Three points separated these sides before the match  -  in favour of South Hobart.  By the end, six goals separated them  -  in favour of Tilford Zebras.  The Zebras swapped places with South on the ladder as a result of their 6-0 win.

South, with only eleven players to call on  -  the rest of the squad had gone fishing  -  were up against it from the start.  Their clicking knees and creaking spines were always going to succumb to a side that had four substitutes, and used them.  Interchange is permitted in this league.

Actually, South had twelve.  Ian Colhoun, one of their injured brigade, offered to referee the game and he did so, bravely and fairly.  He is an official referee and recently had charge of his first senior Premier League match.  He said he would not venture outside the centre-circle, but, to his credit, he often did, despite a damaged calf, which will prevent him from playing at this level or refereeing at the higher level for some weeks.

Looking resplendent in their new replica Glasgow Rangers kit  -  courtesy of their “New Sydney” watering-hole sponsor  -  things looked promising before the game.  After the kick-off, reality set in immediately.

Although they huffed and puffed and gave their all, South were no match for a Zebras outfit that had the life frightened out of them in the dressing room before the match by a coach who threatened them with fire and brimstone and eternal punishment in hell if they did not win.

The tirade even unsettled South’s players next door, separated only by a thin wall.  They looked anxiously at each other and wondered where they could come up with a million dollars or two to buy some reinforcements.

There was a sign of things to come after a mere five minutes as Maki Behrakis strode forward from midfield and lazily fired against the South Hobart post.  The South defenders watched as the ball, almost in slow motion, rebounded wide and out for a goal-kick.

Justin Robustelli should have put the Zebras ahead in the 18^th minute, but he missed an absolute ‘sitter’.

This was a huge relief for South’s back-four of Michael Fraser, Greg Knight, Andrew McShane and Michael O’Leary as it gave them time to get their breath back.

It also gave midfielders Tony Brooks, Jesminder Singh, Stephen Biggs and Richard Bennett time to pull up their shorts, tuck their shirts in and get ready for goalkeeper Christopher Knight to kick the ball upfield.

Front-runners Adrian Williamson and Stephen Binns were seen to look longingly in Knight’s direction, obviously hoping and praying that the ball would somehow finally pass over the midfield and give them something to chase.

Their prayers remained unanswered.  Catholic Italians must have had more clout with Him above than those clad in the Protestant shirts of Rangers.

Within two minutes, Zebras were in attack again and only a superb save by Christopher Knight denied Paul Saric, whose shot seemed destined for the back of the net.

This was but the first of many excellent saves by Knight, recruited in the off-season from Nelson Eastern Suburbs’ first division side.  Knight would turn out to be man-of-the-match, despite the 6-0 scoreline, and a booking in the 62^nd minute after a clash with Justin Robustelli.  But for Knight  -  and, of course, some inept finishing from Zebras  -  the score would have reached double figures.

At the 26-minute mark, Zebras made their first double substitution.  The look of horror on the faces of South’s players said it all.  For them, it must have seemed like playing 13 opponents.  And, two more fresh Zebras players were straining at the bit as they galloped up and down the touch-line in an energetic warm-up.

Not only were South physically demoralised by this, they must have been psychologically on the brink of despair.

Christopher Knight saved well again in the 29^th minute as Zebras striker Simon Robustelli threatened to break the deadlock.

There was a glimmer of hope for South in the 33^rd minute when they earned a free-kick just outside the box on the right.  Tony Brooks chipped towards the far left-hand post, but it was more in hope than expectation as there was not a sign of a South team-mate in the vicinity to rise majestically into the air and nod the ball home.  They were all still gasping for breath in midfield, thankful for the respite given them by the referee awarding a free-kick.

Brooks, as it turned out, was the only South player to shoot at goal in this match.  He had three attempts, only one of which was on target.  The lads would surely have ‘shouted’ him a few beers at the “New Sydney” afterwards  -  if they could get there, that is.

Zebras counter-attacked immediately and Michele Mascia should have scored from Piero Lalli’s pin-point right-wing cross.  But, Mascia was a fraction slow in sizing up the situation and Christopher Knight was able to snatch the ball at his feet.

Tired of trying to walk the ball into the net, the Zebras decided to shoot from long range and, in the 38^th minute, Brian Ward let fly from 25 metres, but the ball sailed over the bar.

With five minutes of the half remaining, Christopher Knight produced yet another fine save, turning Saric’s dangerous left-wing cross out for a corner.

Spiro Plomaritis headed over the bar in the 43^rd minute, again to the relief of South,  but not nearly as much as on the stroke of half-time when Ward broke through the defence and, with the goal at his mercy, somehow fired wide.

A minute after the resumption, Christopher Knight again forced a corner when he saved from Ward.

South’s good fortune could not last, however, and Simon Robustelli finally broke the ice in the 50^th minute when he played a neat one-two with Behrakis inside the box before shooting into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, the ball taking a slight deflection as it flashed over the line.

Zebras could smell blood as well as eternal salvation now and Angelo Di Florio shot narrowly wide of the post in the 53^rd minute.

Four minutes later, Simon Robustelli made it 2-0 with a fine shot on the turn from the right-hand side of the box.

There was still hope for South, however, and just past the hour mark, Biggs attacked down the left and played a good low ball cross the penalty area.  Binns must have been shocked to find his side in attack and, obviously over excited, he fell over when he should have connected with the ball and the chance went begging.

Zebras responded immediately and, in the very next minute, Di Florio showed similar profligacy by missing an open goal.

In the 68^th minute, a deadly accurate cross from the right by Nicola Cannizzaro sailed over Christopher Knight and Lalli headed home at the far post to make it 3-0.

Shortly after, there was a five-minute break in play as Biggs risked his life to run across Risdon Road in heavy traffic and down to the Brooker Highway intersection, where he actually directed traffic for a while, before retrieving the match ball.

The referee, Mr Colhoun, and the Zebras players had found another ball and wanted to resume play in Biggs’s absence, but South’s players pleaded with the match ‘unofficial’ to await Biggs’s return.

The Zebras players must have been thinking of how long it took the Britishers to have Biggs’s namesake returned to Britain from Brazil and so they implored Mr Colhoun to restart the match.  But, return he eventually did.  It must have been Biggs’s longest run of the day.

Simon Robustelli was in scoring mood by now and he was unlucky in the 74^th minute when his shot hit a post.

He made amends four minutes later, however, completing his hat-trick and giving Zebras a 4-0 lead.

Ten minutes from the end, a burst of speed down the right of the box by Cannizzaro left Biggs with his knee clicking like a turnstile and it was 5-0.

Two minutes later, Cannizzaro made the most of Simon Robustelli’s pass to add the Zebras’ sixth.

It was a gallant display by an outnumbered and unfit South Hobart outfit.  There were brief glimpses of talent, which harked back to earlier careers, but they will need the four or five fishermen who were absent for this match when they next venture forth.  That will be against Glenorchy Knights on home turf at Wellesley Park.

The Knights, incidentally, were watching this match, and they did not look worried.

Tilford Zebras:

South Hobart: