South Hobart hand out a hiding to City and move into second

Photo:  South Hobart's Luke Bighin clears ahead of Launceston City's Gediminas Krusa. [PlessPix] 

(NPL Tasmania, South Hobart Oval. Saturday, 6 August 2022)

South Hobart 10 (B Lakoseljac 8, 50, 55, I Van Doorne 10, 45+1, J Hey 27, L Semmler 36, G Higgins 40, N Morton 45+2, L Feral 89) 

Launceston City 1 (Z Buchanan 64)

HT:  7-0   Att:  90   Ref:  A Giusti

South Hobart:  Hurd  -  Herweynen, Bighin, Lancaster, Semmler  -  Higgins, Hey, Morton (Divin 46)  -  Van Doorne (Schofield 60), Lakoseljac (Feral 68), Berezansky  [Sub not used:  Moncur (GK)]

Launceston City:  Clark  -  Hampson, Oh, Egan, Hancox  -  Campbell, Dyer (Wilcox 52), Hawes  -  Krusa, Fidra, Fleming (Buchanan 32)  [Sub not used:  Curtis (GK)]

Photo:  South Hobart's Josh Divin works to get in a shot. [PlessPix] 

South Hobart moved into second place on the NPL Tasmania standings after thrashing 5^th-placed Launceston City 10-1 at South Hobart Oval on Saturday in a postponed game from round 2 of the season.

The result was a surprise given that the sides had met in Launceston the week before, when South Hobart had a narrow 2-1 win.

It was largely one-way traffic in this encounter, however, and City had no answer to South’s precise passing and lethal finishing, which delighted their coach, Ken Morton.

Bradley Lakoseljac has made his return from a lengthy injury absence for a 40-minute appearance last week against City.  He lasted for 68 minutes in this game but scored a hat-trick, indicating he was back to his best.

Lakoseljac headed South into the lead in the 8^th minute from Tobias Herweynen’s precise right-wing cross.

Photo:  Bradley Lakoseljac receives the congratulations of his team-mates afyer scoring. [PlessPix] 

Three minutes later, a low cross from the left by Lachie Semmler found Iskander Van Doorne, who squeezed home a first-time low shot to make it 2-0.

Jayden Hey grabbed the third in the 27^th minute following a chip from the left by Nick Morton.  Hey’s initial shot was blocked by keeper Lachlan Clark but he struck home the rebound.

Sam Berezansky’s near-post ball on the right gave Lachlan Semmler an easy tap-in from close range for South Hobart’s fourth in the 36^th minute and it was curtains for the visitors with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.

A beautiful length-of-the-field build-up from South in the 40^th minute ended with a full-blooded drive from the edge of the box by Gus Higgins to make it 5-0 for the home side.

Photo:  Bradley Lakoseljac acknowledges a pass from a team-mate. [PlessPix] 

Two goals in a minute at the end of the half gave South a 7-0 lead at the break.  Morton intercepted a sloppy back-pass and beat both Matthew Oh and Shane Egan before hammering a shot past Clark to make it 6-0, while in stoppage time, Van Doorne netted his second and South’s seventh after another clinical build-up from the back.  The move ended with Berezansky playing the ball past a defender and into the path of Van Doorne, who let fly with a powerful shot that gave Clark no chance.

Five minutes after the resumption, Lakoseljac made it 8-0 when Clark could only parry a low cross from the right by substitute Josh Divin and Lakoseljac nipped in to score in a crowded goalmouth.

Photo:  City's James Hawes passes back to his keeper while under pressure from South's Josh Divin. [PlessPix] 

He repeated the feat in the 55^th minute when Clark again parried a low right-wing cross, this time by Van Doorne, and he was left to shoot into an empty net and make it 9-0.

Launceston City pulled a goal back through substitute Zac Buchanan in the 64^th minute.  Some neat one-touch play wide on the left by City left South floundering and Gediminas Krusa’s pass to Buchanan was thumped home beautifully from the edge of the box by the substitute.

A minute from the end, South grabbed their tenth.  Berezansky won a tackle against Oh near the corner flag on the right and crossed low across the face of goal to the unmarked substitute and captain Loic Feral, who rolled the ball home into an empty net. 

Photo:  Bradley Lakoseljac tangles with Juan Hampson. [PlessPix]