South Hobart got off to the perfect start in the 2022 NPL Tasmania competition with a 5-0 away win over Olympia Warriors at Empire Couriers Park on Friday night.
The visitors were on top for most of the game.
Olympia did have the upper hand for a short while midway through the second half with South Hobart leading 2-0, but their resurgence was short-lived and South Hobart added three more goals to run out comfortable winners.
South Hobart still have work to do based on this performance as they will face much tougher opposition.
Olympia are staring at a difficult season based on this display.
They were a hit-and-miss side tonight and their tactic of playing long high balls upfield towards the tall Alex Holmes in the hope he would get a head to the ball proved fruitless. Luke Bighin and Loic Feral, at the heart of the South Hobart defence, had little trouble in containing Holmes and launching attacks for their side.
South Hobart played some effective long diagonal balls to switch the point of attack and this caused Olympia endless problems.
The mobility of the South Hobart players made it difficult for Olympia to mark them and the visitors could have scored more than five goals.
Olympia’s cause was not helped when the experienced defender Jake Vandermey was injured after a quarter of an hour and had to be helped off the pitch.
The home side already trailed at that stage. Sam Berezansky, who was popping up everywhere, volleyed the opening goal at the near post from Josh Divin’s pass, but the old adage, ‘Near post, keeper at fault; far post, great shot’, came to mind.
Olympia are certainly short of experienced personnel young enough to have an impact, and their marking at the back was poor and made it easier for the visitors, who switched positions endlessly.
Iskander Van Doorne, for example, was nominally on the left wing, but he often popped up on the right, while Berezansky was everywhere.
Olympia goalkeeper, Mitch Stalker, was inconsistent. He made several outstanding saves, including in one-on-one situations, but he was probably at fault for the opening goal and he conceded a penalty just before half-time when he fumbled the ball and brought down Berezansky as he tried to regain possession.
To Stalker’s credit, he saved Berezansky’s penalty to keep his side in the game and only 2-0 down at the break.
Van Doorne had made it 2-0 just before the penalty when he was allowed to cut in from the left and advance on goal before scoring with a low shot from the edge of the box that beat Stalker, who dived in vain to his right.
Stalker had much to do in that first half as he also saved from Berezansky and Van Doorne, twice.
Olympia responded with a couple of chances, Wesley King heading a Simon Vivarelli corner narrowly wide and keeper Jake Hayers (who played for Olympia last season) tipping a Faisal Baddiley free-kick from deep on the left over the bar.
The second half opened with Stalker saving brilliantly from close range from Berezansky and then denying Van Doorne, who had been put through by Divin.
Olympia then briefly started to assert themselves and Ewan Sloan had a couple of half-chances.
Their resurgence quickly petered out, however, and Divin made it 3-0 for South Hobart with a low shot inside the far left-hand post in the 76th minute.
Substitute Bradley Lakoseljac added South Hobart’s fourth in the 82nd minute with a simple tap-in at the far right-hand post after a low cross from the left by Tobias Herweynen.
Another substitute, Lachlan Semmler, completed the scoring a minute from the end with a fine volley.
Olympia were unable to match South Hobart in midfield and failure to control the engine-room enabled the visitors to dictate play for most of the game.
South Hobart have work to do but show potential, while Olympia face a mountain to climb after this opening round defeat.