South start slowly before demolishing Taroona

Photos (Top to Bottom): The South Hobart starting XI versus Taroona; The teams shake hands prior to kick-off; South keeper Sam Kruijver takes a corner at the near post; Taroona's Sam Johnson foils Kostas Kanakaris; South's Tom Roach rises above Toby Dove; Tom Roach wins the ball against Taroona's Sam Johnson; Taroona keeper Richard Nettlefold watches the ball flash by for a corner; Mr Video filming the match at a picturesque South Hobart ground; South's Jonathon Lo prods the ball wide; Jonathon Lo has put South ahead; Jonathon Lo (on the ground at right) completes his hat-trick; South's Jonathon Ladic (left) tangles with Taroona's Hugo Luttmer; Jonathon Ladic puts Kostas Kanakaris away during a South attack; South's Josh Heerey (No. 4) shoots wide; Taroona's Sam Johnson cuts out Heerey's cross; South's Shae Hickey (No. 7) shoots wide of the far post; South's Shae Hickey (left) shields the ball from Taroona's Jack Elliott; Taroona's Jack Elliott wins the ball from South's Tom Roach [PlessPix]

Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League (South Hobart, Sunday, 11 April 2010)

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South Hobart 5 (J Lo 20, 34, 68, K Kanakaris 28, S Hickey 54)

Taroona 1 (G Hamilton 43)

HT: 3-1 Att: 100 Ref: S Collins

South Hobart: Kruijver - Heerey (Pennicott 56), D Brown (Ludford 62), M Brown, Scott - Beecroft, Roach, Ladic (Upton 67), Hickey - Lo, Kanakaris [Substitute not used: Moncur] [Coach: Ken Morton]

Taroona: Nettlefold - Tubb, Johnson, Schaap, Darragh Carey (Wright 35) - Duncan Carey (Macgregor 70), Atkinson, Elliott, Dove - Hamilton, Luttmer (Douglas 83) [Substitute not used: Hortle] [Coach: Ben Horgan]

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This victory put South Hobart back on top of the Forestry Tasmania Southern Premier League ladder, a point ahead of second-placed Glenorchy Knights.

Taroona are second-last, three points ahead of bottom-side Olympia Warriors.

South were on the back foot for the first ten minutes as Taroona attacked relentlessly in an attempt to get off to a good start by taking the game to their opponents.

South made the occasional foray into Taroona’s defensive third and they did have the ball in the net in the 8th minute, but the effort was disallowed because of off-side.

South gradually wore their opponents down and took the lead in the 20th minute when Josh Heerey released Shae Hickey down the right and his cross was turned in by Jonathon Lo. Hickey was clearly off-side and the goal should not have counted.

South’s second goal, in the 28th minute, though, was a fine one. Tom Roach won the ball in midfield and his precise through-ball put Kostas Kanakaris through and he beat the advancing goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

Ladic set up Lo for his second and South’s third in the 34th minute.

South were terrorising Taroona down the flanks - particularly the right - and Taroona replaced their left-back, Darragh Carey, with Jordan Wright 10 minutes before the interval.

Lo, Hickey and Heerey had all missed good chances from close range, somehow shooting beyond the far post, and in the 37th minute Roach was unlucky when his shot hit the far left-hand post and the ball rebounded into the grateful arms of keeper Richard Nettlefold.

Two minutes later, Lo’s cross put Kanakaris through, but he somehow missed an open goal, shooting wide of the target.

Two minutes before the break, Taroona struck back with an excellent goal following a long clearance from Nettlefold. Luttmer controlled the ball and fed Garry Hamilton in the middle. He found a way past Daniel Brown and Heerey and drew Kruijver before shooting home to make it 3-1 at half-time.

South restored their three-goal buffer nine minutes after the resumption when Heerey floated a tempting cross in from the right. Nettlefold misjudged the flight of the ball badly and completely missed the cross, while Llewyn Tubb slipped at the vital moment, enabling Hickey to score an easy goal. Hickey gave Tubb a friendly tap on the head as if in commiseration as he trotted away for the kick-off.

Luttmer missed a good chance within a minute of the restart, while South coach Ken Morton decided to make some changes of personnel.

Heerey made way for Jim Pennicott in the 56th minute and Garry Upton came on for Ladic midway through the half.

Lo completed his hat-trick and the scoring in the 68th minute. Hickey crossed from the left and Kanakaris collided with Nettlefold, enabling Lo to shoot home as he also fell to the turf.

South continued to dominate the closing stages and Kanakaris went close on a couple of occasions when his pace got him into good positions, but his final touch was missing.

In the 86th minute, Kanakaris played a couple of neat one-twos with Hickey as Lo lured defenders away, but his shot flew into the side-netting.

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· South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“I thought we did well. We played some lovely attacking football and created lots of chances again and had a comfortable win 5-1.

“Credit’s got to be given to Taroona. They stuck to the principles of football. They passed the ball well and they were honest and you can’t ask for much more than that.

“But, I thought over the 90 minutes, we were a much stronger outfit.”

· Taroona coach, Ben Horgan, said:

“They got away from us in the first 30 minutes and probably had it stitched up by half-time.

“We just didn’t cope with their movement and pace. They got in behind us a lot.

“Three goals were always going to be a bit hard.

“We looked okay going forward, but they just opened up big holes in our defence.

“They were too good for us today.”