South Hobart produced a professional performance to top off a great week for the club by defeating Clarence 6-1 at Wentworth Park on Saturday afternoon in the NPLS TAS.
South came into the match riding the high of their Lakoseljac Cup victory over Devonport just five days earlier, but with some injuries they had to ensure they weren’t too complacent against a Clarence side that had improved since the teams last met.
From kick-off the Clarence’s players showed some real gusto and pushed forward immediately with Lachlan Burt beating two men on the edge of the box before playing in Sam Randall whose dangerous looking cross deflected out for a corner.
As South started to get on the ball it was clear they weren’t playing with their usual intensity, couple that with Clarence displaying some solid defensive shape one might’ve given Clarence a bit more of a chance in this match after the first five minutes.
That made it heart-breaking for Clarence when South’s first chance of the game was buried by Bradley Lakoseljac in the 6th minute after he was released by Jack Bowman’s through-pass down the right and the youngster made no mistake, lacing it past the Mathew Dyson in goal.
Clarence heads had dropped after looking very positive in the opening minutes but despite not holding much possession they were still managing to keep a good defensive structure to try and frustrate South and maybe earn a rare chance on the counter.
But in the 20th minute South would double their lead when Isky Van Doorne’s clever pass found Adam Gorrie who struck a drilled-cross from the right to present Ben Hamlett with the easiest of tap-ins from barely a yard out.
Clarence refused to let in for the remainder of the first-half and managed to contain South to just the two goals in by half-time despite their superior share of possession.
Not too long after half-time were the Clarence defenders starting to tire from the constant chasing, it was then that the chances started to flow for South, with Samuel Berezansky missing a couple of golden chances before Hamlett hit one wide himself.
Lakoseljac would be the one to show his teammates how to score, when he doubled up in the 56th minute, tapping in following a ferociously whipped-cross from Nick Morton landed at the young midfielder’s feet.
Hamlett, after missing another couple of chances, finally buried his second and his team’s fourth in the 62nd minute after somehow managing to chip the keeper from very-close range after Gorrie produced another pinpoint-perfect cross.
South were creating chance after chance at this stage but the number in the shots off column continued to rise and rise, something the South fans who had been braving the cold to support their team were not pleased about.
Morton showed the forwards how to hit the target in the 70th minute with a clinical low-finish into the bottom-right from just outside the box to put his side five goals to the good.
Strangely for a game with so much play in his team’s half and so many strikes against, Dyson in goal for Clarence hadn’t had many saves to make, which made three saves he made in the last 20 minutes even better, particularly stop with his foot when Morton looked certain to score.
In the 87th minute Clarence had something to cheer about when Burt’s corner found Ganga Mangar who met it with a brilliant diving header to get one back for his side.
But the last goal of the match would go to South substitute Samson Juju after Dyson rushed out of goal, leaving the youngster with an open-net, and despite the distance and angle he produced a very tidy finish to make it 6-1 with the full-whistle coming two minutes later.
Ken Morton seemed happy with how his players backed up from their match earlier in the week.
“I thought the performance was okay, we created a lot of chances and we missed a lot of opportunities to blow the score out.”
“Overall it was a good ninety minutes for us when you consider we had a few knocks.”
Warren Burt was proud of his young sides performance despite the result.
“You play a top team like South, it’s always going to be difficult for us, but I thought our guys stuck to their structure and made it difficult for them. Definitely in the first-half.”
“We’re getting better each week and looking forward if we can keep these players on the park we’ll make a good account of ourselves each week.”
Next week Clarence welcome top-side Devonport to Wentworth Park while South will look to continue a good-run of form against the Knights at Darcy Street.