Simon hat-trick guides Mariners past South Hobart

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South Hobart FC 1 (Bradley Lakoseljac 52’) def. by Central Coast Mariners 4 (Matt Simon 29’, 48’, 50’, Tommy Oar 55’)

The Central Coast Mariners completed their tour of Tasmania on Tuesday night, with a Matt Simon hat-trick helping them to a 4-1 win over South Hobart at Lightwood Park.

Tommy Oar added a goal to a strong individual performance to round out the visitor’s scoring, while Bradley Lakoseljac got on the scoresheet for South Hobart.

The Mariners came out of the blocks strong again, putting plenty of pressure on the home defence in the early stages but struggling to finish off chances.

Just before the half hour mark though Jacob Esposito charged into the 18-yard area and was brought down after dishing the ball off, and Simon made no mistake in tucking home the resulting penalty.

That was it for scoring in the first half, but the game opened up in the early stages of the second half.

Oar broke down the left side and swung in a cross that Simon got his head to, and just minutes later he beat Graham Wright at the near post with a well-hit drive.

The action continued two minutes later when Lakoseljac capitalised on a defensive error to fire home for South Hobart and cut the lead back to two goals.

There was hardly time to settle as Simon broke through the defence only to be brought down by Wright, but Oar was on hand to take the advantage and sweep the ball home with 55 minutes played.

Alen Stajcic made a number of changes shortly after as Esposito, Jerry Skotadis and Abraham Majok were replaced by Dylan Ruiz-Diaz, Ruon Tongyik and Jacob Melling, and Mario Shabow came on for Mikey McGlinchey for the final 25 minutes.

The match petered out with the Mariners in control during the final stages, and attentions now turn to next Tuesday’s big FFA Cup quarter-final against Hume City in Victoria

Lineups |

South Hobart: 3. Adam GORRIE, 4. Jack BOWMAN, 5. Hugh LUDFORD, 6. Loic FERAL, 8. Kobe KEMP, 9. Bradley LAKOSELJAC, 11. Benjamin HAMLETT, 12. Samuel BEREZANSKY, 15. Declan FOLEY, 19. Tobias HERWEYNEN, 21. Graham WRIGHT

SUBS: 1. Mark MONCUR, 2. Samuel CORNELIUS, 10. Mason ATTFIELD, 13. Riley MORTON, 14. Samson JUJU, 17. Kasper HALLAM, 18. Samuel TOOZE

Central Coast Mariners: 1. Mark BIRIGHITTI, 3. Jack CLISBY, 8. Michael MCGLINCHEY, 10. Tommy OAR, 14. Abraham MAJOK, 16. Dylan FOX, 18. Jacob ESPOSITO (T), 19. Matt SIMON ©, 20. Jerry SKOTADIS (T), 26. Joshua NISBET, 27. Lewis MILLER

SUBS: 2. Ziggy GORDON, 4. Eun-Sun KIM, 6. Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO, 7. Milan DURIC, 9. Jordan MURRAY, 12. Adam PEARCE, 21. Ruon TONGYIK, 22. Jacob MELLING, 23. Mario SHABOW, 28. Dylan RUIZ-DIAZ, 31. Matthew HATCH