Photo:  The action at Wentworth Park [PlessPix]

(Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League, Wentworth Park, Saturday, 6 August 2011)

Clarence United 3 (Kyu Jun Kim 61 pen, Jae Ho Lee 90+6, W Malovnek 90+8)

Olympia Warriors 2 (J Van Der Mey 41, O Shabeneh 90)

HT: 0-1   Att: 80   Ref: B Kopra

Clarence United: Moschogianis  -  Toghill, Parker, Rees, Price (Browning 46)  -  Yeon Sun Jo (Malovnek 85), L Brown, Kyu Jun Kim, Jae Ho Lee  -  Hamlett, Malcolm (Stevens 80)  (Subs not used:  Lush, Cornish)

Olympia Warriors: Voss  -  Hey (Mohamad 77), Stockdale, Van Der Mey, Colosimo  -  Meredith, Mason (Wadawu 46), Fielding, Phillips (Nandan 80)  -  Shabaneh, Kumpulainen  (Sub not used:  Farrugia)

Photo:  Olympia's Josh Colosimo being treated on the field before being stretchered off [PlessPix]

This was a fiercely contested Eastern Shore derby.  On a damp, cold evening, the game smouldered for most of the first half, gradually came to life in the second, and exploded in stoppage time at the end with three goals in the 8 minutes of overtime.

The extra time was warranted because there were four goals in the second half and quite a long delay as Clarence goalkeeper Michael Moschogianis received treatment.

In the last seconds, after William Malovnek had scored Clarence’s winner in the 98th minute, the game was again delayed to allow for Olympia’s fly-in from Melbourne, Joshua Colosimo, to be stretchered off.  He was carried into the club rooms and an ambulance was summoned.  He appeared to have a rib injury and was reportedly having trouble breathing.

There were few chances in the opening 40 minutes, apart from a half-hearted penalty appeal when Omar Shabaneh and Clarence defender Nathan Rees both went down while chasing a ball down the right-hand side of the box.  Mr Kopra waved play on and both sides got on with it.

Four minutes before the break, Olympia’s other fly-in from Melbourne, Jake Van Der Mey, headed the visitors in front after a one-two at a corner between Lee Mason and Colosimo, the latter crossing the ball into the box for his fellow Melburnian to nod past Moschogianis.

Photo:  Olympia on the attack [PlessPix]

It took Clarence until just past the hour-mark to equalise, Van Der Mey bringing down Ben Hamlett and conceding a penalty that was expertly converted by Kyu Jun Kim in the 62nd minute.

In the 70th minute, Van Der Mey almost grabbed his second goal of the game, but his header from a free-kick from the right hit the right-hand post and rebounded into play.

Olympia’s Jayden Hey hobbled off with 13 minutes remaining after a terrible tackle by Grant Malcolm, and Youssef Mohamad came on as his replacement.  Malcolm was replaced shortly after by Joseph Stevens.

Clarence coach Andrew Brown was sent from the technical area after what the referee termed inappropriate gestures and continually leaving his technical area.

Olympia thought they had won the match in the 90th minute when Chris Kumpulainen made a marvellous slalom run down the inside-left channel and slipped the ball wide for Shabaneh to hammer home a superb left-foot shot into the far top corner of the net to make it 2-1 for the visitors.

But, the game was far from over and Clarence continued to attack, especially through Kim and Jae Ho Lee down the left.

In the 6th minute of stoppage time, Lee made it 2-2 with a fine low drive into the far right-hand corner of the net.

Olympia probably still thought that a point was safe, but Clarence merely upped the tempo and refused to accept a draw.

In the 98th minute, the ball was delivered towards the penalty spot and substitute William Malovnek got a touch to force the ball over the line for the winner, to the dismay of the Olympia defenders, one of whom, Colosimo, had been knocked out in the scramble for the cross.

Photo:  Interested spectators from Glenorchy Knights (L-R), Brazilian import, Felipe, coach, Ahmad Abdaltam, and Brazilian youth coach at Knights, Romilton Amaral [PlessPix]

Assistant referee Stratos Plomaritis had his flag raised for off-side, but after Mr Kopra ran over and consulted him, the goal was allowed to stand as the ball was adjudged to have come off the head of an Olympia defender rather than a Clarence attacker on its way to Malovnek.

It took several minutes for Colosimo to be assessed and taken by stretcher from the field and, after that, there were only a few seconds to play after the restart before the final whistle.

The win put Clarence level on points with second-placed Tilford Zebras, but an inferior goal-difference keeps Clarence in third place.  New Town Eagles are now 5 points behind in fourth spot.

Zebras are in action at 2.30pm on Sunday at KGV Park against fifth-placed Kingborough Lions United.

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Clarence United coach, Andrew Brown, said:

“[It was] a typical derby game.  It did swing to and fro and I thought the game was gone with the decision not to send Ven Der Mey off, when he’d given the penalty and yet he was the last man and he didn’t send him off.  I thought we’d paid the ultimate sacrifice at 2-1.

“I know the Olympia supporters, and in particular their president, got very happy and told me what he thought.

“At the end of the day, karma is karma, and credit to our fantastic football club, our fantastic players.  We were undefeated, winning all three grades today, under duress.

“We are the true team on the Eastern Shore.  We have been for a long time and shall remain so for a long time because we have the players that are from the Eastern Shore, that want to play for the Eastern Shore, that believe that the Eastern Shore is a great place to be, and I’m incredibly proud.

“We’re coming right at the right end of the season, as we always do.

“CUFC for ever.”

Olympia Warriors coach, Franco Previdi, said:

“Disappointed with the result, but I thought my boys played really well.  “I thought we were the ones in third place on the ladder and that they were the ones who were second-last.

“Overall, I think we deserved more the win, but I give them credit.  Clarence had those chances and put them away, while we didn’t.

“Disappointed not to have one penalty, for sure.  But look, overall, I’m not complaining about Kopra [referee] at all.  He did quite a good job.

“It was a good game of football and I was certainly happy with my boys’ performance.”

Photo:  Colosimo being stretchered off [PlessPix]

SOUTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE (As at 6 August 2011)