FFA Cup - round of 32 matchday 2 Crowd Attendances:
Campbelltown City v Melbourne City (3,078) at Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Cooma Tigers v Hume City (855) at Deakin Stadium
Maitland FC v Central Coast Mariners (2,777) at Maitland Sportsground
South Hobart v Marconi Stallions (2,617) at Blundstone Arena
St George Saints v Sydney United (TBA) at Illinden Sports Centre

Pretty good attendances all round to be honest

Promote 2 and relegate 2. 

I am not sure of KGVs current capacity but that might be the biggest capacity rectangle stadium in the south. There aren't many options and that seems to be a problem. I don't necessarily expect the govt to fund a 10 to 15k boutique stadium for a 2nd Div Hobart based team  but that would be ideal for the sport if there ever is a HAL side here.

Maitland v Central Coast 0-2

Huge upset.

South played an ACT side at KGV in the first year of the cup on freezing cold night. Went to pens.

Olympia hosted APIA one year, not sure where that got played.

Looks nice. 

My kids have athletics carnivals at the Domain Athletic Centre. In my opinion the current grandstand would be further away from the action than at an oval stadium such as Notth Hobart or Bellerive. Temporary stands may or may not be a cost effective thing but i think the Domain would be a poor option unless it gets a massive upgrade, and would most likely require pissing Athletics off elsewhere. 

The photo is a distortion. We have just returned  from the game.

The view from the Ponting Stand is pretty similar to what I've had at Telstradome or Etihad, or whatever it is  called nowadays.

I thought it was excellent at the half way line. If the pitch was moved 10 -20 metres further north, they could it in a further 20 metres closer to the Ricky Ponting stand.

I’m so annoyed nobody covered the ffa cup on the radio the competition is invisible 

Invisible? You’re thinking of the EPL ... 

3 years tops

South Hobart V Marconi.

I'm not sure if this game was televised?

We attended the game live.

The  lights were excellent. The view from the Ricky Ponting Stand was very good. The playing surface looked  good too.

Unequivocally, the game was  awful!

Marconi played the worst football I've seen from any visiting NPL team from  Victoria,  NSW or Queensland team for a long time. Peter Tsekenis is coaching Marconi to play dross.

  South coach, Ken Morton, has also had South Hobart playing a lot better against NPL opposition from the aforementioned states in previous NPL and FFA Cup games. 

Both teams held awful shape on the ball and off it. Basically, both teams struggled to  even play a formation  effectively. A few times Marconi held  a 4-4-2 flat midfield in Ball Possession Opposition, which was easily identifiable. Even then they were easily pulled out of shape by a mediocre South in possession.

South had a 4-3-3 defensive midfield in  Ball Possession. Even then it was often hard to identify it most of the time . In the second half they played 3 at the back with Feral sitting in front of the defence. This could also be delineated as a 3-1 back four, in a 4-3-3 defensive midfield triangle, or a 3-4-3, with the midfield as  1:3 shape or midfield diamond.

If either team was ostensibly trying to play a 3-5-2, they couldn't hold shape.

 Ken is a good coach and I'll ask him about  his intended tactics next time I see him, but with players like Ludford, Walter ( injured after 10 mins) , Hamlett, Ken's son Nick Morton, Darcy Hall and Loic Feral playing for him for an extended period over years, they were simply awful.

Feral was often unmarked  sitting as a midfield  screener in terms of continuously   waving an pointing to the FBs to play wide, when he was in a better position to receive, particularly if he had sprinted quickly towards the FBs to receive. He could've then dictated play better.

Maybe Ken had asked him and the team to play wide a lot - but South  players were constantly under Marconi defensive pressure in those areas.

South have  played far better against better opposition manifesting in Brisbane Strikers, SU58, APIA Leichardt and even a sub standard South Melbourne ( by South M's own standards).

Both teams had a chance to produce a spectacle in playing conditions, but they often played fight ball, long ball dross.

Neither built up effectively under pressure from the back and  through the midfield, particularly the first half when both teams squeezed more intensively  in Ball Possession Opposition.

Also, the angle of the passes, and the off the ball movement from both teams was atrocious, until the BPO squeezing of the ball diminished in the second half.

 Too many straight balls meant players from both teams received and had to play bounce passes backwards,  rather than  more diagonal balls enabling players to have a more effective body shape to play or move forwards.

The score flattered Marconi.

They had more shots on goal, and were better in confined spaces in maintaining possession of the ball, but they were still awful on a better pitch than when the likes of  Brisbane Strikers, who played lovely deck football on a  bumpy Darcy St pitch, and, APIA Leichardt who played quality football on the synthetic Football Fed Tas synthetic pitch.

I don't know where they are on the NSW NPL ladder ATM? Marconi were awful though tonight. The only highlight were some diagonal crosses from the flanks, where opposition wingers moved nicely to the back stick pulling the South defence out of shape , and that was about it.

The first touch of most players both teams particularly under  pressure in the first half, was atrocious.

Mitch Mallia and Marco Jesic, who have been former A League players have really gone backwards. I thought Jesic was unlucky to his a HAL contract, but tonight he looked like a NPL plodder. 

The crowd was 2 700.

Bellerive would  be a good HAL venue. The difficulty would be working  around the FC and BBL cricket pitches .

I doubt anybody pontificating on Tassie grounds has watched football at all of  them - live.

I view games live at  all the NPL home grounds regularly and have coached on most  of them.

Without any equivocation, the Ricky Ponting Stand at Bellerive Oval has easily the best viewing.

Tonight the view was a highlight.

Last year against APIA it was at KGV, Football Fed Tas HQ.

They served Moo Brew craft beer on tap.

It was very cold for the APIA game, but a lot warmer than Canberra would've been.

We need to see some young talent come through so it was good to see current Joey forward in Micheal Ruhs assisting and scoring in Sydney United’s win in extra time. 

Only 17 too.

South Hobart got 1500 at KGV park in the 2014 cup

wasnt that the game with the “slice of cheese” quote

Worse game : Sth Hobart v Marconi
Best game : St George v Syd United
Biggest upset : Maitland v CCM

Heh. As someone who has seen Marconi play this season I can agree with this.   :laugh:

Still if they get an A League team next round Marconi Stadium will be rocking, especially as it's an actual football ground.  

and what a FFACup to be at.
Your never guaranteed a good game but this sure ended up being one.
For starters arriving just 10mins before koff the ground stands were already pretty full but we were in a que to enter which was healthy to see finally got in 5mins of play already gone.
Atmosphere was great till the final whistle !
SGC active fans had drums and chanting all game, SU had their usual support as well, the banter back and forth through the goals provided many giggles.
As expected SU were sharper moving the ball and some great one touch football at times But STG PL2 arn't as sharp but their ticker and home support lifted their performance no doubt about it......
I was listening to some supporters behind me saying this is big for the Club making it to R32, no doubt I agree.
Long time since their big heydays back in NSL.
In the end it was the fitness difference overall going ET, STG had their chances still but SU played some fast counters late and the finish's were spot on to kill STG off.
Rippa night as people have seen the updates - Lliden Sports Centre could hold games easily for the 2nd tier comp.
Love the Cup fellas.

D, Marconi and SU this season have been up and down.
Marconi have spent some dollars but it just isn't delivering as expected.
Both 15/16 points behind top Wolves.
They have recovered their season of late, SU now 5th Marconi 6th.

Local Hobart writer Walter Pless's FFA cup match review
https://walterplessonsoccer.blogspot.com/2019/07/south-hobart-outfought-but-not.html

and more from a source based in Sydney http://www.thecleansheet.com.au/ffa-cup-match-day-2/

Will be a massive upset if Nix get one over Bris/Strikers. Strikers fav @$1.75 Nix @$4.

Ta.

Walter is a good mate of mine.

Tsekinis should give up coaching.

That is the worst I've seen any team play from other states in the NPL and FFA Cup epoch.

Marconi should hopefully be knocked out in the next round. 

Their style of football is a disgrace to the code and the antithesis of what we are trying to create in Aus.

Of course..

Le meme

-PB

MEME
E  
MEME
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Grew up drinking kool aid together.