South Hobart once again demonstrated their penchant for late heroics, as Ryan Cook fired home a stoppage-time winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Hobart Zebras. Having outplayed their opponents only to find themselves trailing 1-0 after a Mathew Sanders penalty, the game turned upon Riley Dillon’s brainless dismissal on 69 minutes. Against the 10 men, South finally converted their dominance, as a Kemp free kick and Cook’s clinical finish secured another famous victory to keep their title hopes alive.

The game started with South piling on the pressure, and Nick Morton’s early shot set the tone for the half. South continued to have shot after shot, with no less than five attempts on goal inside the opening ten minutes. In the 24th minute South almost went one goal up, when Nick Morton produced a good run and cutback down the left-hand side, Morton’s ball found Alex Walter in the middle with Walter forcing a Sheku Kamara save from point-blank range.

Only three minutes later Kamara produced another fine save, palming Connor Schmidt’s shot into the crossbar and keeping his side in the contest. In the 42nd Nick Morton found himself free on the left again, whipping a dangerous cross to Alex Walter at the back post. However, Walter’s shot went well wide of the open net, as the South Hobart attacker stretched for the ball. Not long after the halftime whistle blew, with South Hobart going into the sheds having 13 shots to the Zebras 0.

The second half began with the Zebras looking like a different side, with the men in black and white on the attack early. In the 46th minute it was Luke Huigsloot on the ball, with the Zebras tall man playing the ball to Jakub Sklenar in the box, who was brought down by Connor Schmidt and the referee pointed to the spot. Matthew Sanders stood up to the spot and made no mistake, putting his side 1-0 up and swinging the momentum of the game.

As the half continued the ball was falling to both sides, and in the 52nd minute Renato De Vecchi Marins almost put his side back into the contest, with a diving header going just over the bar.

It wasn’t long after this that the game was turned completely on its head, when in the 69th minute Riley Dillon was shown his second yellow, resulting in the Zebras going down to ten men. Having already been booked, the Zebras full-back opted to handball the ball into the crowd, rather than return it to the player, leading to an entirely needless dismissal.

Just six minutes after Dillon was shown red Alexsander Markaj gifted South Hobart a freekick right on the edge of the box, after his foul on Jack Turner. It was Kobe Kemp who stood over the dead ball and he expertly placed the ball into the gap left in the wall by Loic Feral, seeing South Hobart equalise with 14 minutes left on the clock.

South continued to push for the winner as the clock wound down, with De Vecchi Marins, Turner and Morton each having shots. However, it was the Zebras who almost took the lead, with Matthew Sanders hitting the target in the 85th minute, however, his headed shot fell straight to Kieran Brown.

In the 86th minute, South Hobart made a substitution, seeing Ryan Cook come onto the pitch and just 5 minutes later the ‘Chef’ put the finishing touch on the match. With the pressure piling on the Zebras, Sheku Kamara was forced to clear the ball, however, his clearance fell straight to Schmidt. Schmidt was then tackled by Jordan Muller, with Muller’s tackle deflecting the ball to Nick Morton in the middle of the penalty box, Morton then put it on a platter for Ryan Cook and Cook hit the back of the net with a fantastic finish, putting South Hobart 2-1 up. There were calls for offside however Muller’s touch negated this and Ben Robinson had played him onside at any rate, meaning Morton was fine on both counts.

This was how the score remained, as South Hobart yet again found the late winner to gain a vital three points in the title race.

Speaking post-match South Hobart coach Ken Morton said his side showed “great character” as they continued to push for a goal throughout the match. Morton believed his side deserved to win the match and believes “anything can happen” in the title race this year.

For the Zebras it was Matthew Sanders who fronted the media, with Sanders labelling the result as “one of our worst of the year.” Sanders continued, saying his side were “fortunate to be in it at halftime,” and that they “changed the way we played to suit them, and it didn’t work.”

The result has huge ramifications in this years NPL TAS title race, with the win seeing South Hobart move equal with the Zebras on 29 points. Devonport are now in the box seat to win the title, with their 35 points seeing them sit 5 above their closest rival Launceston City. Next week South Hobart face a tough away trip to the Den, 6pm on Saturday, whilst the Zebras face a road trip to the NTCA, 2:30pm on Sunday.