They started Saturday on the bottom of the Women's Super League table, but a dominant display has seen South Hobart climb out of the basement with an 8-0 win over Clarence.
The two sides had one win apiece in their previous two meetings, but the result this time was never in doubt as South overwhelmed their opponents from start to finish. Charlotte Ingram led the way with four goals, and she was well supported by Pishon Choi and Phoebe Djakic in an electric attacking performance.
It took just fifteen seconds for the tone to be set for the rest of the day, as Ingram burst down the left wing from the kickoff and forced the visitors to clear for a corner. Just two minutes later South had the first score on the board, and they put Clarence on the back foot early. A lovely through ball from the midfield played in Choi behind the defence, and after using her pace to get to the ball first she calmly finished past the helpless Amelia Vandermiet to open the scoring.
It didn't take long for them to add to the early lead, as the game's next two scoring chances found the back of the net. It was Ingram with the finishing touches on both goals, the first a reflex shot after a goal-mouth scramble and the second an attempted cross that drifted over the 'keeper and into the far side of the net.
Despite finding themselves in a three-goal hole with just fifteen minutes passed, Clarence looked to counter-punch in a promising patch of play shortly after. Karen Lawler worked hard forward and twice found some space, once to shoot and once to cross, but both chances lacked a final blow.
Despite those encouraging moments for Clarence, it felt like they were stuck in a riptide and struggling to swim ashore; the harder they tried to fight back, the more vulnerable they were. Unfortunately for them, they were quickly swept further out to sea as South Hobart scored another two goals in quick succession.
It started with a lightning-quick counter attack, as the ball travelled from goalkeeper Georgia Mcmullen to goalscorer Djakic in a matter of moments. South played the ball directly down the middle, and it ended with a one-on-one with Vandermiet and a simple finish for Djakic's first. Three minutes later, Choi played a brilliant ball on the turn through to Ingram, and she too finished well with just the 'keeper to beat to complete a first-half hat-trick.
The last 15 minutes of the half passed with no more goals, but without South Hobart taking the foot off the pedal. They continued to torment the Clarence defence, as the visitors often struggled to make it out of their defensive half.
It was more of the same after the restart, as South continued to dominate the play but struggled to find the clinical finishing they displayed early. Already the best player in the first half, Ingram somehow looked even more dangerous in the second, as she repeatedly beat her marker down the wing and created scoring chances for herself and others.
Clarence continued to fight against the tide, and did go close to stealing a goal back just before the hour mark. A tidy counterattack down the left ended with Sarah Donelly at the edge of the area and with space to shoot. Her effort beat the goalkeeper, but sailed just wide of the post.
Other than that near miss, though, the momentum entirely sat with South Hobart. While the goals were less abundant than in the first half, they did eventually get some reward with another two-minute scoring burst.
A switch of sides onto the right wing couldn't keep the ball away from Ingram, as a long cross from the left landed at her feet and gave her another simple finish for her fourth goal. Two minutes later Djakic secured her brace as she chested it down cleanly and slid a shot into the bottom corner to make it 7-0.
With just ten minutes left and the spark well and truly out of the game, it seemed like both sides were content to let the game peter out until the final whistle. There was still time for one last goal in the dying minutes, though, and it was the ever-dangerous combination of Ingram and Choi once again doing the damage. A corner from Ingram was allowed to bounce around the penalty spot, and that gave Choi an opening to run onto the ball and hit it first time for her second goal.
That proved to be the last meaningful play of the game, as it ended in a thumping 8-0 win for South Hobart. That result lifted them over Clarence and off the bottom of the WSL table, and the dominant nature of the performance should give them plenty of confidence for the rest of the season.