Hamlett Settles Instant Classic

It had goals galore and no shortage of controversy as Benjamin Hamlett swept home a chance in the 82nd minute and settled an instant ANZAC Day classic 5-4, in favour of South Hobart over the Zebras at North Hobart oval. His second goal of the day capped off the third time South had come from behind to eventually win a see-sawing contest. Mathew Sanders handed the Zebras the lead on 20 minutes before goals from Walter, Hamlett and Van Doorne had South firmly in command at half time. A second half blitz saw the Zebras rally to suddenly lead 4-3 after 58 minutes, before Mathew Sanders had one erroneously chalked off for offside. Loic Feral then set the stage for Hamlett when he levelled the game at 4-4.  Eight minutes from time Morton worked the ball to Hamlett who fired home and secured the win in an absolute classic. The two sides both sat on 16 points before this match, offering a huge chance for either team to take a hold on third spot. South Hobart seemed the keener early on, and in the 9^th minute had a golden chance to go ahead when Morton squared a ball to Desouza whose shot clipped the bar and went over the top when he really should have scored. South continued to enjoy good spells of possession early on, but the Zebras would be the one to break the deadlock in the 19^th minute. Edwards whipped in an in-swinging corner that Kieran Brown came out to collect but clutched at nothing but air with the ball falling to Sanders as the back-post who finished easily with his head. South Hobart kept their composure despite going behind, creating chances up until they equalised in the 31^st minute through Alex Walter who tapped in following a brilliant low-cross from Morton. Five minutes later and South would have the lead when Adam Gorrie played in Hamlett who outmuscled Fagg on the turn and produced a tidy curled finish into the far corner with his left-peg. Zebras would have been begging for the half-time whistle to try and sort out how to stem the flow of South Hobart attacks but before that whistle could come South would double their lead in stoppage time. Desouza played a raking ball across field to find Van Doorne who bought it down and laced a strike with his unfavoured left-foot that crashed into the inside of the near-post and into the back of the net to give South a 3-1 lead going into half-time. The teams headed into half-time in two very different moods, but whatever David Smith said to his Zebras players and the two subs he made seemed to have worked because what was to come in the second-half was what one might describe as “madness”. Just four minutes into the second-half Saunders slipped Nicky Edwards in behind the South defence and in the one on one Edwards just managed to slide the ball under the goal-keeper to give Zebras the start to the half they would have wanted. Three minutes later and the Zebras equalised when Dillon tapped in at the back-post after Hey stole the ball off Morton and dribbled toward the goalkeeper before cutting it back to earn the assist. To cap off a crazy nine minutes the Zebras took the lead in the 58^th. Dillon played a lovely volleyed pass over the top for Sanders to run on to, as South Goalkeeper Brown came out the Colonel lobbed him to score his second of the match and his fifteenth goal of the season. South Hobart looked absolutely shell-shocked, as did much of the crowd who couldn’t believe what was unfolding before their eyes as South who held such dominance in the first half were now struggling to put 3 passes together. Zebras thought they’d doubled their lead in the 65^th minute when Sanders found the back of the net after following in Dillon’s strike that hit the post, but the assistant referee raised his flag, a decision Zebras fan clearly didn’t agree with. So it was certainly against the run of play when South Hobart managed to equalise. In the 66^th minute Nick Morton put in a corner that was met by an unmarked Loic Feral at the back-post who managed to squeeze it home. Both teams continued to exchange punches in the remaining twenty-odd minutes, knowing that the three points would be huge for either side. It would take until the 82^nd minute for either team to score again and it would be Hamlett who put South into the lead. Adam Gorrie put in an absolute beauty of a low-cross that went past Morton at the front-post and landed at the feet of big Benny Hamlett who tapped home to send the south fans and bench into raptures. And as if the game didn’t already have enough drama, Nicky Edwards was shown a second yellow for an off the ball challenge on Hugh Ludford to end his day two minutes shy of full-time, a decision he made no complaint about. After nearly seven minutes of injury time the referee finally blew the full-time whistle to end what was one of the best NPL TAS game since the leagues inception. South Hobart would take all three points to put themselves in outright third spot. [caption id="attachment_10912" align="alignnone" width="656"] Solstice Photography[/caption] [caption id="attachment_10911" align="alignnone" width="666"] Sander scored 2, but had another waved off-Solstice Photography[/caption] https://youtu.be/3-iEqYgiPhs