By Jacob Batt

Olympia Warriors FC coach Glenn McNeil has given a blistering account of his team after Friday night’s 6-3 loss to South Hobart, calling for certain players in his side to ‘wake up to themselves’.

It was a match where South Hobart’s class shone through, while Olympia’s boom recruits failed to meet lofty expectations.

South drew blood quickly, taking the lead within 10 minutes through a perfectly placed Nick Morton strike from 18 yards. Winger Darcy Hall had beaten his marker Zac Drake and squared the ball to the goal scorer.

South continued to dominate the contest and very nearly found another goal through defender turned midfielder Daniel Brown, who had two shots on goal cleared off the line by Olympia defenders.

Just after the half hour mark Olympia found an equaliser against the run of play. Captain Jake Vandermey headed home at the back post from a free kick to give his side some hope.

Morton was to have the last say of the half, scoring his and South’s second goal, giving his side a well deserved 2-1 lead at half time.

Minutes after the restart Darcy Hall sped away from Nick Mearns and expertly lobbed Spiros Paradisis to give South a comfortable 3-1 lead as South looked likely to bolt away from the Champions.

It became 5-1 to South before the hour mark after two howlers from an out of sorts Paradisis. The Olympia goalkeeper gave the ball away twice in two minutes and on both occasions Morton and then Leszcynski both calmly chipped the stranded gloveman.

Still with half an hour to play Mearns cut the deficit to 5-2 by tapping in from a Warren Wadawu cross. However a result still appeared a bridge too far for the Warriors, with South Hobart dominating the reigning champions in general play.

Darcy Hall, Kobe Kemp, Nick Morton and Daniel Brown were sensational in midfield. Their high pressure and high press could not be dealt with by Olympia. This allowed South Hobart to shut down Lawrence Shuruma, Shae Hickey and Jacob Collard and in turn the danger men of Gavin Hoy and Borbor Sam couldn’t receive the supply and had minimal impact on the game.

Centre-forward Alex Leszcynski scored his side’s sixth goal with a powerful header from an outrageous 18 yards that set the South fans into ecstacy. Olympia substitute Joel Sammut was able to score a consolation goal, but far too little, too late for the Warriors.

South Hobart coach Ken Morton was delighted with his side’s first match of the National Premier League Tasmania season.

“It’s certainly a big start for us. The three goals we conceded were from set plays, and we had a couple kicked off the line as well, so I thought we were quite emphatic tonight.”

Morton isn't placing too much emphasis on the season opening victory, expecting Olympia to regroup as the season progresses.

“I’d like to think it’s a statement, but it’s three points, it’s the first game of the season. They’ll win a lot of games, they’re a good side with good players and I’m sure they’ll bounce back from that.”

“We put ourselves in a good position now, we’ve won the first game and it’s against the number one from last year so it’s a great win for us.”

Olympia Warriors FC coach Glenn McNeil was not impressed with his team's performance.

"Embarrassing.

“A very poor performance. South Hobart were very good tonight, they deserved to win. And I think a few of those players need to wake up to themselves.”

“I think there’s a few players in there with some big egos and they’ve been brought down to earth today.”

McNeill was bluntly disappointed with his thoughts on the loss.

“What can I say, it was just horrible to watch.”

Olympia face Devonport next week and changes to the lineup would be expected, with McNeill's experiment with Mearns at Centre Back likely to be short lived.

“Certainly got to get back to the drawing board on Monday and sort some things out.”