Monday November 17, 2008 10:11 pm

Tasmanian Supa Liga - Round 4

Saturday night saw the Tasmanian Supa Liga open up with Tassal Stripes moving to equal top of the competition with Sandy Bay Storm with a game in hand.

In what was the game of the competition so far the Tassal Stripes stamped their authority on the competition with a cracking win against the Tasmanian Islanders Southern Youth team. The youth team welcomed back star player DiPendra Kunwar and from the outset put the Stripes under pressure and dominated proceedings in the first half but could not find a way past Stripes goalkeeper Michael McKenna who was in red hot form. The state mens goalkeeper thwarted Kunwar and fellow attacker Mathew Chapman on numerous occasions and the longer the game went on the more McKenna looked unbeatable as he single handedly kept his team in the game. Just before half time the Stripes took the lead through one of the best individual goals of the tournament by Jon Foley-Donaghue and the scores stayed at 1-0 at the break. The second half started much the same with the youth team peppering the Stripes goal that seemed to be impenetrable at times and slowly the confidence of the youth team was dropping as they found no way through McKenna’s defense.

The Stripes then went on a burst of their own which saw the youth team goal under threat and some fine saves coming from Ricky Chew prevented several efforts from Foley-Donaghue and Fred Assenheimer before finally the Stripes broke through with a few quick goals to open the game up.

The Youth team fought bravely all game and Jamie Vernon finally pulled a goal back for them but it was too little too late as Tassal held on to eventually a resounding 6-1 win to go equal at the top in what was a game which showed high skill all round and showcased two of the best keepers in the competition in Michael McKenna and Ricky Chew head to head. For the Stripes scorers were Huw Jarvis 3, Seth Van Heyster 1, Fred Assenheimer 1 and Foley-Donaghue 1 while Vernon was the only scorer for the youth team.

In the first game of the night table topping Sandy Bay Storm came crashing to its first defeat when well-fancied Northern Fusion showed what it is capable of with a 9-6 upset victory. With both teams missing players it was Storm who suffered the most with tournament top scorer Corey Smith, Star Brazilian Import Igor Sao Jose and dynamic flanker Josh Fielding all missing from the line up. From the outset the Storm lacked shape and Fusion took advantage of this through experienced attacker Will Gee slotting three goals early in the first half through good finishing after some slack Storm defending. Storm’s main threat in the game came from Kosta Grillas who took over as tournament top scorer with three goals to take his tally to 12 but Grillas lacked service and found the going tough. Fusion were very solid at the back through Andrew Davies and shut down the Storm options well and with the Storm being a little one dimensional the Northern outfit completed the victory convincingly. Goals for Fusion came from Davies 4, Gee 3 and Shay Hickey while Storm replied through Grillas with 3, the very impressive Callan Griffin with 2 who worked hard all game and Martin Cairns 1.

In the other game of the round Newstead Blues defeated Tasmanian Islanders Northern Youth 10-3.

This saturday sees Northern Fusion take on the high flying Tassal Stripes in what will be game of the round with the Stripes having a chance of the outright lead in the competition while the Fusion could make it a three way tie at the top if they were to take all three points. Both teams will be a full strength and a good result for either could show their rivals what they have in store. The Tasmanian Islanders Southern and Northern Youth sides play-off in a game that should have plenty of feeling as the two sides will be out to prove who has the best young talent in the usual North vs South rivalry. The Southerners go in as strong favourites after recent performances in the competition. The final game of the round will see the improved Newstead Blues take on Hobart Utd and a very close match is expected in this one with both teams very evenly matched across the board. Games kick off at Moonah Sports Centre at 6pm Saturday.