Will Jago

The Devonport Strikers continued their good run of form as they defeated the Somerset Sharks by a whopping 10-0 to advance to the Lakoseljac Cup Final in comprehensive fashion.  The Sharks were never in the game, having conceded in just the first minute of the play when Adam Gorrie fired home to give his side the dream start.  This set the tone for the rest of the game and Devonport continued to pile on the goals scoring in the 9th, 14th, 27th and 40th minute of the first half to take a 5-0 lead into the break.

The goal in the 9th minute was scored by Joel Stone after a good switching play from Daniel Syson to find Beau Blizzard, who then crossed the ball in to find the unmarked Stone.  Just five minutes later Devonport’s star striker Brayden Mann got in on the action to double the advantage.  This was the first of five goals that he scored in the game to make it 11 goals in his last 2 cup games.  His second came in the 27th minute after a nice pass from Joel Stone found him open on the left side of the goal to bury it.  The play was fast paced with Devonport doing all of the attacking in the first half and in the last few minutes before the half time break it resulted in another goal, this time Brody Denehey firing home after being set up by Stone.

Devonport continued to attack in the second half with Somerset unable to hold on to possession for long enough to generate a good shot at goal.  The Strikers piled on another five goals in the second half as they continued the rout.

Mann made it 6-0 as he completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after a bad challenge from Batt before Denehey scored his second goal of the game in the 57th minute from close range after a lovely pass from Blizzard. Big Joseph Zupo’s rose highest from an Adam Gorrie’s corner to nod home and make it 8-0 before Brayden Mann’s added two more goals in the 78th and 81st minutes. A lovely piece of individual skill got him the space he needed to put the ball into the back of the net for the first, before a wonderful chipped pass across the field found him all alone at the back post for his fifth of the day to complete the job and make it a 10-0 win

Overall, it was a dominating performance from the Strikers and they will be moving on to the Final of the Lakoseljac Cup where they will face South Hobart. The final promises to be an absolute cracker as Brayden Mann will once again be playing against his old team and South Hobart will be looking to get one back over the Strikers after they were defeated by Devonport earlier in the year in the NPL.

As for Somerset, they can be proud of the way they have performed throughout this competition. Even though the score line today wasn’t too flash, to get to the semi-finals in the first place was an accomplishment in itself.