April

Photo:  Olympia's Nick Mearns (left) and Janko Begovic combine to stop South Hobart's Chris Hunt [PlessPix]

(Victory League, South Hobart Oval, Saturday, 27 April 2013)

South Hobart 3 (C Rogers 27, N Morton 34, B Hamlett 90)

Olympia Warriors 2 (H Undy 10, E Cabello 77)

HT:  2-1   Att:  486   Ref:  K Barker

South Hobart:  Ferguson  -  Lewis (Stevens 8), Fielding, Hill, Williams  -  Hickey, Scott (Yun Hye Min 75), Rogers (Hamlett 60)  -  Morton, Hunt, Kanakaris  (Sub not used:  Moncur)

Olympia Warriors:  Cale  -  Wilcock, Begovic, Mearns, Phillips  -  Griffiths (Holmes 96), Larzabal, Cabello, Undy  -  Jin, Tsakiris  (Subs not used:  Woolley, Nester, Mohamad)

Photo:  Olympia's Luke Wilcock (left) and South Hobart's Kostas Kanakaris in a race with the ball [PlessPix]

This game was a wonderful advertisement for the Victory League.  The quality of football was high, the crowd was good and the atmosphere at the South Hobart Oval tremendous. 

South Hobart came from behind to lead 2-1 at the break before being pegged back to 2-2 with 13 minutes remaining.  South’s winner came in the last minute of normal time.  Mr Barker added 7 minutes of stoppage time, during which Olympia goalkeeper Juan Cale ventured to the other penalty area for a corner.  Olympia brought on Alex Holmes as a substitute for that final corner, too, but it was to no avail and South Hobart triumphed 3-2 to displace the Warriors at the top of the table.

Carl Larzabal was a surprise inclusion for Olympia.  He has been training for a month and this was his first senior game in quite a while.  He acquitted himself well as a holding midfielder and his lack of match practice was not evident.

Photo:  Olympia's Janko Begovic tackles South Hobart's Chris Hunt [PlessPix]

Former Olympia captain, Josh Fielding, played well for South Hobart and, in the first half, often rescued the situation when his side were under pressure.  Several times, he outfoxed Eduardo Cabello when the Mexican threatened danger.

All five goals were outstanding.  The first four came from excellent passages of play, while the winner came from a South Hobart set-piece that was beautifully and deliberately finished by a determined and brave Ben Hamlett, who was shown the yellow card after discarding his shirt as he celebrated.  Hamlett has clearly recovered from the knee reconstruction that kept him out of the game for a year and he is a valuable addition to this South Hobart side, who also fielded new signing Liam Scott in midfield.

South Hobart suffered an early blow when right-back Matt Lewis had to go off after injuring his ankle after just 8 minutes.  Joe Stevens came on as a replacement and did well.

Photo:  Olympia celebrate Eduardo Cabello's goal [PlessPix]

Olympia started at a high tempo and had a couple of early chances before Hugh Undy put them in front in the 10th minute.  Emmanuel Tsakiris was released down the right and his splendid cross into the goalmouth was met by Undy, who headed powerfully past an unprotected Matthew Ferguson.

South Hobart quickly regained their composure and started to fashion dangerous attacks.  In the 24th minute, Kostas Kanakaris made ground down the left and cut the ball back for Shae Hickey, but he shot wide of Cale’s right-hand upright.

Three minutes later, it was 1-1.  Cabello lost possession to Fielding in the South Hobart half and that set the ball rolling as the former Olympia skipper launched a counter-attack that ended with Chris Hunt’s short square pass to Cameron Rogers, who beat Cale with a low left-footed shot that nestled inside the right-hand post.

Olympia did not drop their heads and, on the half-hour, Ferguson beat out a ferocious shot from an angle on the right by Tsakiris.

Photo:  South Hobart's Kostas Kanakaris (right) slips past Olympia's Carl Larzabal [PlessPix]

South Hobart took the lead in the 34th minute following an error near the half-way line by Luke Wilcock, whose pass went astray and allowed South to gain possession and attack with a diagonal ball to the right, where Hunt and Nick Morton exchanged passes before Morton beat Cale with a low shot inside the far right-hand post.

South Hobart almost scored a third in the 40th minute after Nicholas Mearns incredibly gave the ball straight to Kanakaris, who released Morton down the right, but Cale did well to turn the youngster’s shot over for a corner.

Olympia’s Seung Yong Jin had the ball in the net on the stroke of half-time, but the effort was correctly cancelled out because a team-mate had been off-side before slipping the ball through for the Korean.

Olympia began the second half strongly and Jin shot narrowly wide shortly after the resumption.

The strong wind was playing havoc with moves from both sides, but Olympia probably had the better of the exchanges.

Their efforts were rewarded when Cabello scored a stunning equaliser in the 77th minute with a 25-metre shot that gave Ferguson no chance.

Photo:  South Hobart's Chris Hunt outpaces Olympia's Nicholas Mearns [PlessPix]

But, Hamlett popped up in the 90th minute to outjump the Olympia defence and head Kanakaris’s corner past Cale for the winner.

It was Olympia’s first league defeat and they now lie second, a point behind leaders South Hobart.

Olympia president, George Mamacas, was clearly upset at South Hobart’s victory song played on the public address system after the final whistle and went on to the field and told his club’s players to listen to what he considered somewhat of an insult.

“The game was a great spectacle and advertisement for Tasmanian football,” Mamacas said.

“Congratulations to Ken and his squad.  However, South Hobart showed all of the Victory League clubs and their players now below them on the table the utmost disrespect by playing Queen’s ‘We are the champions’ immediately after the final whistle.

“It is, after all, round 6 out of 21.  Perhaps people should look to South Hobart FC to find the arrogance that they claim that Olympia has.”

Photo:  Olympia's Hugh Undy takes on South Hobart's Chris Hunt and Liam Scott [PlessPix]

South Hobart coach, Ken Morton, said:

“A good effort from us to get up and win in a difficult game in difficult conditions.  It was really hard to get the ball down and string many passes together.  I thought we dug in deep, worked hard to get back from being one nil down to 2-1 in front and then just got a little bit sloppy and Eduardo smacks in a wonderful strike.

“We showed great character, I thought, and we took the game to them and we got chances and opportunities and then finally from a set-piece Benny gets up in front of them with a neat header and we make the win.

“So, a terrific effort, I think, from the lads in very trying conditions for both teams.”

Photo:  South Hobart's Kostas Kanakaris gets a touch of the ball just ahead of Olympia's Luke Wilcock [PlessPix]

Olympia Warriors coach, Glen McNeill, said:

“I think for the playing group we had out there, I couldn’t be more proud of them.  They were outstanding today.

“We asked 100 per cent of them and they gave everything they had and they were dragging themselves off the pitch.  I just couldn’t be more proud of the group.

“Six first-team players were out today.  Even half that number in the side today would have made a difference.”

Photo:  Olympia's Eduardo Cabello tackles South Hobart's Kostas Kanakaris [PlessPix]