IC- South Hobart Football Club

Andrew Cooling

In the rain and snow South Hobart did as expected and comfortably accounted for Northern Rangers 5-0 at Darcy St. With an undermanned side it was always going to be an uphill battle for Rangers and whilst they showed some impressive resilience and fight, South had the game tucked away by half time.

Rangers signaled their intentions by playing with a back five and dropping deep from the outset and they survived the opening exchanges without looking too threatened but then on seven minutes Jack Turner opened the scoring with a header from a Connor Schmidt cross. Rangers keeper Wes Chugg got a piece of it but he couldn't keep it out. It was probably the only knock on the young keeper all day, he otherwise played an outstanding game in goals and denied South Hobart on multiple occasions with some massive saves.

Two of them came shortly after the goal, the first from a long range curler from Alex Walter which he did well to save diving away to his right, before he was alert to shut down the dangerous Darcy Hall at his near post after he beat three defenders in the box and fired off a shot.

On the half hour mark it was 2-0 as Nick Morton drilled a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of the net. The ball took a jump off some uneven turf and skipped into the back of the net leaving the keeper with no chance.

Two quickly became three when Darcy Hall took the ball on the wing, stormed into the box, drove to the by-line and cut it back to Leszczynski who flicked it home high into the net without breaking stride. It was a fine move and had the game all but sealed, with South threatening to rout them as they did the last time they met at Darcy St.

Chugg again came up big to deny Hall shortly before half time after the winger once again beat multiple defenders only to be denied by the keeper.  It would be his last involvement from a very lively 45 minute display before being subbed out early for Ben Hamlett at the break. Matt Lewis also made way for Kobe Kemp to make his long awaited return.

The second half began with snow beginning to fall which would persist throughout the second half as the temperature dropped to just 2 degrees.

South picked up where they left off in the second half, controlling the game and unleashing a series of shots that all seemed to be missing by narrow margins. Rangers were dogged in defence and Jesse Fulton made a brilliant sliding block to deny a certain goal following some lovely build up play between Hamlett and Turner.

Alex Walter made no mistake just past the hour mark however when he streamed through the middle of the park and was not closed down in time, the youngster unleashing a fine drive into the bottom corner of the net from 20 yards out to make it 4-0.

The game didn't hit any real heights from that moment on but South were not finished yet, Ben Hamlett getting on the score sheet right at the death, powering a thumping header, attacking the ball and meeting Morton's corner with authority to end the game 5-0.