On a night when their star import had plumped for Moscow’s Spartak Stadium over the NTCA Ground, Northern Rangers were undone by Launceston City’s overseas operators.
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Six hours before Federico Cano was due to watch his native Argentina take on Iceland at the World Cup, his former Rangers teammates were ruing his absence.
The eventual cross-town gulf between Launceston’s two NPL sides wasn’t quite the 14,832 kilometre distance to the Russian capital, but a final four-goal and two-player deficit ensured a miserable night for the home side.
A 4-0 scoreline was a tad harsh on the hosts not to mention the two late red cards for Mitch Jones and Daniel Cristy which left coach Lino Sciulli carefully choosing his words.
”First half we played exceptionally well, second half we tried but we just weren’t there and losing a couple of people doesn’t help,” he said.
“The class shone through in the end I guess and you can only get through with so much endeavour and then you run out of legs.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and come back next week.”
With City coach Jez Kenth unavailable through work commitments, assistant Roger Mies took charge and felt his players had taken Kenth’s message to take the derby aspect out of the equation a bit too literally.
“I didn’t think our boys had enough emotion at the beginning, they didn’t treat it like a derby game and Rangers were clearly up for it,” Mies said.
“But we had a chat at half-time and they came out with a different mindset and it was more like a derby in the second half.
“It wasn’t our best performance but we got the job done.
“We were very slow to get started and didn’t have the intensity we were after and slowly got into the game.
“Second half we started to get on top and ran away with the game pretty comfortably.
“The cream usually rises to the top and it did tonight.”
Rangers dominated the early chances, with Mitch Jones and brothers Pat and Nick Lanau-Atkinson bringing the best out of Canadian keeper Niko Giantsopoulos.
But City opened the scoring against the run of play from their first real chance on the half-hour when Jarrod Linger headed in Tyler Fischer’s cross.
American Fischer and Englishman Shane Cartwright effectively killed off the contest either side of half-time.
Cartwright doubled the advantage with an individual goal of supreme composure, coolly strolling through a panicked defence and steering the ball past Sam Whatman.
Fischer took advantage of a delightful Daniel Syson throughball after which City even had the luxury of being able to substitute their prolific targetman.
A fourth arrived on 68 minutes and although Noah Mies was involved, went down as an own goal against Tenzing Anderson, prompting the observation from his coach and former goal-hungry father: “He can’t be my boy if he’s not claiming it.”
Mies Senior also heaped praise on Cartwright’s calmness, Linger’s contribution, a solid defensive contribution and even the opposition.
“They played with more intensity than we did first half. Lino gets the most out of that team.”
As the derby atmosphere did finally simmer to the surface, tempers frayed on both sides.
Giantsopoulos sparked a spiteful exchange which began with substitute Adhar Ngor but swiftly spread to include much of the Elphin suburb and resulted in Jones being dismissed.
Cristy jointed him moments later when a second yellow card was brandished for what could have been seen as either kicking the ball at an opponent or attempting to take a quick free-kick, depending on whether viewed through red and white or blue and white tinted glasses.
The dismissals left a sour taste from a contest which Rangers deserved to get more out of.
NPL round-up
Elsewhere in the league, South Hobart kept up the pressure on City by demolishing cellar-dweller Clarence at Darcy Street.
Ken Morton’s men repeated the same scoreline City had inflicted at Prospect two weeks ago, running out 7-0 winners.
Olympia beat Kingborough 4-2 at Warrior Park.
An early goal to Phil Kantzos was doubled when Danny Cowen rifled home a penalty.
Lucas Hill and Eduardo Castenada levelled the scores before Joffry N’Koso also hit the target.
Hobart Zebras play Devonport at KGV on Sunday.
Super market
In the Women’s Super League, Launceston City temporarily closed the gap on ladder leaders Ulverstone with a 4-0 win over Kingborough at Olinda Grove.
Three goals in the first 11 minutes was a healthy start.
Emily Hernyk tucked away the first after two minutes and Kiara Walsh doubled the advantage two minutes later, converting the rebound when her initial shot was saved.
An unmarked Lillian Shegog struck the third after some delightful approach play by Walsh.
The cream usually rises to the top and it did tonight
- Launceston City assistant coach Roger Mies
The hosts held out until the 80th minute before conceding again.
A hand ball in the box by Georgia Burley allowed Marielle Agatowski to convert from the penalty spot although City were unlucky not to add another when the dangerous Keilin Fagan struck the crossbar in the last minute.
Hobart Zebras host Ulverstone, South Hobart welcome Clarence and Taroona play Kingborough as the rest of the round takes place on Sunday.