Steve Hudson Cup Round 2 Results

South Hobart 4 (A.Brennan 2, Morton, Linhares) def Launceston Untied 2 (T.Nimely) HT - 2:0

Northern Rangers 4 (C.Hunt 2, A.Luate 2) def New Town Eagles 1 (A.Mckeown) HT - 3:0

Andy Brennan leads the golden boot after netting another
brace this weekend.  Pic Courtesy of http://www.shfc.org.au/

Launceston City 1 (Macri 43) drew Glenorchy Knights 1 (Griffin 90)

Ulverstone 3 (Robert-Thompson, Singleton, S.Conkie) def Riverside Olympic 1 (Kinslow)

South Hobart kept their unbeaten record intact recording a 4-2 win over the host team Launceston United in round 2 of the Steve Hudson Cup.  But this was far from the result many expected as Launceston showed they will not be the easy beats of the last few years.

South shot out of the blocks and Andy Brennan helped his side to a two nil lead at the interval, but Launceston found an avenue to goal in the second half through the inform Thors Nimely.  Nimely scored twice in the second half to assist Launceston in making a fist of the contest, and it could have been level if the linesmen had been asleep as Launceston scored from an offside position.

Importantly this match showed Launceston could stay with South Hobart for 90 minutes, something Rangers failed to do last week, and Launceston struggled with earlier in the year when they played a friendly match against South Hobart.

Nick Morton controls infront of Jack Hudson of Launceston.
Pic courtesy of http://www.shfc.org.au/

South did however put two goals way themselves in the second half including a fine goal just before time from Andy Brennan to seal the result, ending the game on a 4-2 score line thanks to goals from Morton, Linhares and a double to Andy Brennan.

Launceston Coach Mark Egan said “First half we were severely under the pump.  The pace of the game was un believable.  They scored some good goals and got away from us to some extent.”

“It was game of two halves though and to score two goals in the second to get right back into the match was great, it could have been 3 all but it was justly judged off side.  I felt we matched it with them all day and thankfully the game was in the morning or one of our guys might have died.”

“I am really happy with the effort because I think they were close to full strength and we are still playing with our line up.”

Northern Rangers were in control of the first half against Newtown Eagles without being outstanding.  Rangers scored three goals in a dominate first half performance but didn’t actually look like they got out of second gear. 

Rangers new striker Agele Luate netted a brace for his new club while Chris Hunt got his year off to a start to complete the first half white wash at 3-0.

Rangers mixed things up in the second half, making wholesale changes to the line up in the early stages of the half.  Eagles made the most of the less settled line up and Adam McKeown broke through the Rangers defense to provide a glimmer of hopefor Eagles in the second half. 

Rangers did pull themselves back together and when Chris Hunt grabbed his second goal for the day, the result was a fore-gone conclusion.  Rangers running out 4-1 winners and recording their first win for the year to give them a faint hope of making the final.

Northern Rangers co coach Marshall Pooley said after the game: “Tenzing Anderson was outstanding in the first half.”

“We had great movement from the front three with our young player Josh Burk moving really well with Agele Luate and Chris Hunt”

“I was happy with the game, another game under our belts and it was good to see more quality for extended spells rather than 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there”

David Jordan for Launceston City.  Pic courtesy of
Launceston United Facebook group.

“Alex Bligh went ok on debut in goals, that’s a big step up for him and it’s good to see our younger guys doing a job”

I was really happy with Issa Dumbuya, and he looks like he will fill one of our midfield holes this year left by Derek Schipper and Scott Murray”

Launceston City made their first appearance of the tournament and added a point to the three they received for having the week off last Sunday.

Glenorchy Knights fell behind when Antonio Macri scored in the 43 minute to give City the edge just before half time, but Glenorchy showed great pride and netted an equaliser in injury time to snatch a point, their second of the tournament.

Ulverstone and Riverside played on the slightly smaller number two pitch, and it was Ulverstone who got home in a 3-1 victory.

Riverside’s new signing from Prospect Knights, Rhys Kinslow scored Riverside’s only goal, but the score line flattered Ulverstone somewhat, with Riverside looking better than the score suggested.

Ulverstone’s goal scorers were Ian Roberts-Thompson, Jason Singleton and Shaun Conkie. 

Ulverstone Coach Nick Owen was happy with the result but had this to say after the game: “We won but Riverside played the better football.”

“We had plenty of chances in the first half but didn’t finish, plenty of work for us to do at training”

Today’s results leave Ulverstone on the top of the ladder followed by the only other team with a perfect record to date, in South Hobart, and they are now in a strong position to qualify for the final given that South Hobart get a guaranteed 3 points next week with the bye and then face Launceston City in the final round.