SOUTH Hobart advanced to the semi-finals of the Lakoseljac Cup with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Launceston City at Mitsubishi Park yesterday.
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Launceston City battled hard and were far from disgraced but the class of South Hobart came to the fore in the second half.
The defending champions took the lead through Kobe Kemp’s superb strike from the edge of the area in the 26th minute but were pegged back moments later as Ben Brookfield got on the end of a teasing free kick from the outstanding Greg Duffy.
South Hobart largely controlled proceedings in the first half but failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage, struggling to create many meaningful shots on goal.
They exploded out of the blocks in the second half however and quickly restored their lead when a Brayden Mann free kick found its way through a sea of legs and into the back of the net.
From that point on South were dominant, cutting through the City backline and carving out chances at will.
The pace of Chris Hunt, Ben Hamlett and Alex Walter proved too much to handle for City and South doubled their lead from the spot in the 62nd minute after Hamlett was brought down in the box.
City were unable to find a way back into the game as a professional South Hobart side closed the game out with a minimum of fuss.
NORTHERN RANGERS also progressed to the semis with a 2-1 victory over Olympia FC Warriors at the NTCA Ground.
Both teams had chances in the first half played in wet conditions with torrential rain at times.
Olympia’s Nick Meredith hit the post with a shot in the 18th minute and a good save by Rangers keeper James Wilson denied him in the 22nd with scores tied at 0-0 at half-time.
The game came to life in the second half with Rangers scoring the first goal in the 62nd minute through a wonderful 30-yard strike by Joel Sanderson hit the cross-bar and went in.
Warriors equalised shortly after with Nick Meredith’s great finish in the 68th minute.
Olympia went down to 10 men with Harry Wooley given a red card and Rangers managed a last-gasp goal in the 90th minute when a great cross from Adam Edwards was bulleted home by a Mads Anderson header.