SOUTH NOW 10 CLEAR

SOUTH Hobart coach Ken Morton says his side is not yet celebrating despite all but wrapping up the NPL Tasmania title with a narrow win over the Northern Rangers yesterday.

South’s 3-2 win over the Rangers at the NTCA put it 10 points ahead of the Olympia Warriors and the Devonport Strikers after 17 rounds.

With four games to play, it would take disaster for South to surrender the title, especially given it has dropped just two league games all season.

South can secure the title with a win over the Kingborough Lions at Darcy Street on Sunday, and Morton is already turning his attention to that clash.

“We haven’t won it yet, we’ve still got games to play,” Morton said.

“There’s no celebrations yet but hopefully we can win the game at home next week and win the championship at home.”

Alex Leszczynski opened the scoring for South in the 30th minute, but the Rangers hit back five minutes later through Mitchell Jones.

Kobe Kemp restored South’s lead in the 50th minute, before Ben Hamlett made it 3-1 in the 74th.

The plucky Rangers would not surrender, though, and it was 3-2 three minutes later when Nick Lanau-Atkinson found the back of the net.

The Rangers pushed for an equaliser, but the travelling side held on to take another giant step towards the title.

Morton was happy with the way his side fought the game out.

“First half we didn’t do enough, second half we played really well and could have won by some more goals,” he said.

“They kept plucking away and they kept themselves in the game with set plays more than anything, but generally we controlled the game quite well.”

In yesterday’s other game, Launceston City came firing out of the blocks to stun the Lions 3-1 at Lightwood Park.

City scored all three goals in the first half to leave the home side shell-shocked, and held on for a comfortable win.

Noah Mies gave City the perfect start in the second minute, tucking home from close range, and the scorer turned provider in the 39th minute when he set up Andrew Compagne for a tap-in.

It was 3-0 three minutes later when Nathan Bartlett fin- ished off a quick counterattack.

The Lions regrouped at halftime and Joel Schuth pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the 64th minute after Conor Bastock was brought down in the box.

Kingborough could not draw any closer, though, as Launceston held on for its third win of the season.