Laura Davis put on an MVP calibre performance in her side's victory over South Hobart today as she scored twice and turned provider for another two first half goals. Emille Tatton scored her second which was the lone goal of the second half as Kingborough coasted by the bottom-dwelling South Hobart.
South Hobart were in trouble from the beginning as they saw a barrage of shots in the first ten minutes which resulted in the first goal of the game. Emille Tatton rounded her marker and delivered a ball to the feet of Davis in the area who took a cushioning first touch and guided her shot to the bottom left corner. Niki Moutsatsos did her best to get South Hobart back into the game as she attempted to play in Pishon Choi twice within a minute but the offside flag denied both opportunities. Then just as they started to find their feet, South Hobart were dealt another blow as the Lions' front three all linked up in a flowing move that resulted in Horgan firing home from the edge of the box, doubling the visitor's lead to 2-0 as the clock ticked past 25 minutes.
Laura Davis got her second just past the half an hour mark as she struck a sweet shot into the top corner past the hopeful attempt at a save by McMullen. Davis then turned provider for the fourth goal to round out the half as she skated past the South Hobart defence along the left hand side and had the composure to slip the ball to De Smit past the penalty spot who had nothing left to do but score the goal.
The second half started better for South Hobart as they tightened up at the back and withstood the ongoing attacks of Kingborough. For twenty minutes they held on until an Emille Tatton stunner increased the lead to five. She received a ball from midfield, took on DeClerck down the right hand side and lobbed McMullen from the corner of the 18-yard box as the winger secured her brace.
Kingborough took their foot off the gas for the remainder of the half and were unable to score again despite the dismissal of McMullen with just over 20 minutes left. Davis was through on goal with only McMullen in between her and her hat-trick but as she attempted to round the South Hobart 'keeper, McMullen went to ground and handled the ball outside of her area, forcing the referee to brandish the red card. DeClerck took the gloves after McMullen's dismissal and managed to keep the scoreline at 5-0 to close out the match.
South Hobart will remain bottom of the table but look forward to the return of captain Eleni Moutsatsos next week following her suspension as South Hobart travel to Ulverstone next week. Meanwhile Kingborough look for back-to-back wins as they host Clarence United.