South Hobart were made to work hard on Sunday night at Wentworth Park to earn the three points against a stubborn Clarence United outfit.
South scrap past Clarence
Clarence stuck to their plans in order to stifle South’s natural passing game and it took until the second half for South to eventually open the scoring.
The opening half was a struggle that saw both teams create few chances. South dominated possession and the few chances that did fall, fell the way of South. But try as they might, they were denied repeatedly by some scrambling defence in the final third by Clarence, especially from their central defensive pairing of Grant Malcolm and Adam Hedge.
It was particularly evident in the first half just how much South Hobart missed a true striker. Last night they relied on a rotating false 9, where the load was largely shared between Nick Morton and Kobe Kemp. Morton will be pining for the return to fitness of both Ben Hamlett and Alex Leszczysnki to bolster their chances as the season progresses. South looked like a frustrated team at half time, and Morton must have given his chargers some good messages at half time as they came out a much more incisive team in the second half.
CLICK HERE for the full match report.
Zebras hit Lions for six
Hobart Zebras continued their strong start to the season and maintained top spot on the table with a comfortable 6-0 win over the lowly Kingborough Lions at the Den in the ‘Safari Derby’.
Kingborough’s defensive frailties were on display when up against the likes of Huigsloot, McKeown, Sanders and Downes and they had no answer as their slow start to the season continued.
The Zebras made it clear within 3 minutes who was in charge. A tussle in the Lions six yard box had as many Zebras as Lions going in for it and the ball ended up at the feet of the ‘The Colonel’ Matt Sanders who slotted home his sixth of the season with ease.
The goals came thick and fast with American centre back Nick Groenewold continuing to prove his goal scoring prowess in the 14th minute, before Adam McKeown had the game all but won when struck in the 19th.
CLICK HERE for the full match report.
Rangers sail to derby victory
Northern Rangers have won the bragging rights and the first leg of the 2017 Challenge Cup as they accounted for Launceston City 2-1 at the NTCA on Saturday afternoon.
The wind sweeping through Kmart end of the ground to the clubroom end made for a game of two halves. City had the wind behind them in the first half and were on the front foot camping inside of Rangers defensive half for long periods of time. Rangers under former City head coach were however well up to the task of dealing with most of what City could throw at them, marking tightly and limiting space for City to attack into sometimes with all 11 men behind the ball.
CLICK HERE for the full match report.
Road Warriors send out ominous warning
he Olympia Warriors are getting it together and that is bad news for the rest of the competition. On a fine Saturday afternoon they rolled into Valley Road and duly thumped the defending Champions 3-0 on their home turf. It was a statement victory that was comfortably their best performance of the year and perhaps indicates that a month in to the season, their collection of stars are starting to gel. The young Strikers kept at it and made them work hard for the points, but they were simply outclassed on the day by a Warriors side who are starting to fire.
They took the lead inside of ten minutes. Sam Conway took the ball on the left wing and tore towards the Strikers box. He played it through to Sklenar who returned the ball to him as Conway continued his run into the box before sliding his finish underneath Zaikos. It was a well worked move and an early sign of things to come.
CLICK HERE for the full match report.