Northern Rangers fronted up for what everyone expected to be a tough State Wide Cup game, but no one expected it to be this tough.

The game was move to Ulverstone after the rain during the week ruled the NTCA out of action and the Ulverstone pitch is known for its ability to cope with the water.

Whitemore had a near full strength side to choose from, with only Ambrose still on the sidelines, and he went for a predictable line up.

The opening 20 minutes were an even battle with both teams applying high pressure, Rangers were creating chances and looked good to score, but South’s defense lead by Daniel Brown were able to deal with the chances.

At the other end, it was clearly a lot more busy, but to the sides credit, Rangers handled the relentless pressure well.

It took a fine strike from Tom Roach after 40 minutes to open the scoring, and it was found in a 15 minute period in which South Hobart were clearly the more dominate side.

At half time Adam Whitemore was up-beat about the sides chances, and he had every reason to be, but that confidence didn’t at all follow the team back out onto the pitch.

The second half was little more than a train wreck for the Rangers, defensively asleep and Rangers gifted South Hobart 3 goals in alarmingly quick succession, taking nothing away from South’s ability to finish, but Rangers looked like a team playing their second game for the day in the second half.

At 4-0, Rangers scored after some consolation play seemed to get them back into the midfield battle which was key to the game when Patty Lanau-Atkinson finished from the top of the box, but it did little to lift the spirits of the shell shocked team, and they leaked a further 2 goals during the half, to finish a disappointing game, 6-1 losers.

Not a game to be at all proud of, and the only opportunity from the final whistle, was to regroup and bounce back for this week’s top of the table clash with Prospect.

Adam Whitemore said after the game "After a very good first half it was a very humbling result. In the end we got what we deserved for a very poor 10 minutes in the second half, and a mental disentegration.  1-0 was a fair reflection of the first half. Tactically we got it spot on.Liam Scott missed a free header but that aside they created little in the first 30. We were sharp in midfield and moved the ball well. High pressure had them stretched at the back. Roach's finish was quality and reward for them getting on top but we felt that there was a goal in it for us in the second half.

You don't mind being belted by a vastly superior side , but the gap between us in ability wasn't that great. We orchestrated our own demise by defending poorly and giving away easy possession. For me the biggest disappointment was the lack of leadership as the goals went in. It's a time when you need to see players stand up and not too many of ours did. At 4-0 we scored, pressed them and should have pulled it back to 4-3 but yet another mental error put us away.They were very vulnerable at the back but where they took chances we didn't.  Brennan's goal was superbly taken.

What we saw again was the gap between South's intensity and preparation to that of  teams in our league. They train harder and more often. There was nothing intricate about their play, it was based on high percentages, but there was plenty of quality in the final 3rd and great conditioning. They're prepared to give that bit more to be the best while we are doing enough to be at the top of our league but no more. Credit to them for that.

Our challenge now is to see how we react and I expect a reaction. We are a much better side than we saw today.   The aim is to lift ourselves for Knights and then go on to win the league."