It was exciting on Sunday to watch a professional football team from interstate, Wollongong Wolves, visiting Tasmania and taking on our NPL champions, South Hobart.
It was a competitive match in the new Australian National Championship.
It was a good change from friendlies against interstate opponents because there was something riding on the result. Points were at stake.
An interesting footnote was the fact that former South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, coached Wollongong in the National Soccer League in 1981 after he left Rapid.
Wollongong looked professional when they arrived at South Hobart Oval for the game. Their players all wore identical grey suits, white shirts and red ties.
They looked as if they meant business.
I wonder what they thought when they were shown their antiquated dressing room?
South Hobart did well to contain the visitors for the first half an hour.
That’s when Wollongong opened the scoring.
A fast an aggressive run down the left, followed by a low cross to the far post and there was Alex Masciovecchio in the middle to fire home past a static South Hobart defence.
To South Hobart’s credit, they didn’t drop their bundle but fought back and equalised just before half-time through a good left-footed strike through a crowded goalmouth by Austin Yost.
Level at 1-1 at the break, South Hobart had cause for optimism.
Wollongong upped the tempo after the resumption. They had survived a couple of close calls, but they took the lead just past the hour mark through a magnificent piece of opportunism by their Japanese J-League player Kazuya Yamamura. He gained possession just inside his own half and advanced a few metres with the ball. Looking up, he noticed South Hobart goalkeeper Nick O’Connell off his line and deliberately hit a long high ball at goal.
O’Connell back-pedalled frantically but was unable to stop the ball from dipping just under the crossbar and giving Wollongong a 2-1 lead.
I wasn’t a fluke but a clever piece of opportunism involving great skill.
The third goal came in the third minute of stoppage time when
Wollongong carved open the South Hobart defence and Thomas James picked his spot and placed the ball just inside the right-hand post to seal the match.
Wollongong’s passing was more accurate than South’s and they were physically more ruthless than the home side.
South Hobart have a lot to do in preparation for the return leg.
Before that, however, they visit Sydney next weekend to take on Marconi Stallions.
The attendance was excellent. It’s been a while since I’ve seen South Hobart Oval just about packed out.
It just goes to show there is a thirst for competitive games involving interstate opposition.
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