Riverside Olympic suffered a few more slings and arrows of outrageous fortune at the hands of a man named Hamlett.
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Wily poacher Ben Hamlett hit a hat-trick as South Hobart won 5-0 at Windsor Park but a stoic second half performance will give the hosts ground for optimism when they could have been staring down a repeat of last week's 9-0 drubbing.
Having conceded two early goals in as many minutes for the second game running and then found themselves 3-0 down after 19 minutes, coach Alex Gaetani was pleased with how his side rebounded.
"It was a game of two halves," he said.
"We set out to consolidate and try and keep in the game and we did not do that so to be 4-0 down at half-time was really disappointing.
"At half-time I said the result was irrelevant it was more about what we could take from the second half into the weeks ahead where we have some important games coming up and they did that.
"They competed and stayed in the game and we had not done that until today."
South's new signing Isky Van Doorne produced a finish as pretty as his pink boots to fire the visitors ahead before Hamlett took centre stage with a stunning second and Nick Morton rifled in number three.
Hamlett never looked like fluffing his lines to have South 4-0 up at the break before inflicting a tragic ending two minutes from time amid dramatic circumstances.
Eager for the morale boost of keeping South goalless for a half, Olympic were in the process of making a final substitution when Ken Morton's men broke away and added the fifth.
The resulting exchanges saw a member of the Olympic coaching staff sent from the touchline by the referee.
Launceston City leapfrogged their cross-town rivals with a 6-0 defeat of cellar-dwellers Clarence at Wentworth Park.
Noah Mies set up goals for Greg Roller, Jarrod Linger and Lindsay Millington before grabbing a couple for himself after half-time with Alex Turner completing the scoreline before leaving the action on a stretcher.
At Valley Road, Devonport reclaimed top spot with a 6-0 demolition of Kingborough courtesy of doubles from Ignacio Giampaoli and Miles Barnard and singles to Guillermo Lazcano and Kynan West.
Olympia had briefly stolen top spot after defeating Kingborough 4-1 on Wednesday.
An old rivalry is set to play out for the first time in NPL TAS when undefeated Hobart Zebras play newcomers Glenorchy Knights at KGV on Sunday.
The Lakoseljac Cup will cause a temporary interruption to proceedings next weekend before league hostilities resume on Easter Monday with both Launceston teams heading south.
City will be at Kingborough while Riverside visit Clarence's Wentworth Park in games postponed on the opening weekend of the season due to extreme heat. Hobart Zebras host Devonport in what looms as the match of the round.