THE on-again, off-again Grand Final of the TESA sponsored Singleton Strikers Over 35s B Grade side finally got under way last Friday night, albeit in controversial circumstances.
The club received written notification from football authorities early in the week that fellow Grand Finalists Nelson Bay had forfeited the match – a fact reported in last weeks edition of the Argus.
Accordingly, the Over 35 playing roster had been advised of the forfeit, and the players had made work and family commitments based on that advice.
As late as 9.30am on the Friday morning of the Grand Final, the news filtered through that a communication breakdown had occurred between the Nelson Bay club officials and fixture coordinators, and the game was definitely on.
Singleton’s Club officials were nonplussed.
The conspiracy theorists argued that maybe it was a Nelson Bay ploy all along, designed to put the undefeated Singleton Over 35s off their game.
Team management hastily contacted the squad, including team goal keeper Mark Henderson, who had been holidaying on the Gold Coast.
A few phone calls later and Henderson was booked on plane to Sydney and had a connecting train from Sydney to Maitland. His parents had been organised to fetch his playing kit and meet him at the station – Hendo was coming.
The less-than-ideal preparation only served to steel the resolve of the Strikers and they headed to Maitland intent on bringing home the big one.
The game began as many high stake games do – with the two sparring teams not committing fully to attack in case they got caught out on the counter attack.
Singleton settled into the rythym of the game first and thought they had drawn first blood when the athletic John Watson ran through and met a David Stuart cross on the full. His well timed volley flew into the net, but the far side linesman flagged for offside and the goal was disallowed.
The decision shocked the Singleton supporters who felt sure that Watson had been well onside during the lead up play.
The next chance also fell to Singleton, with Watson this time playing the role of provider. His well weighted through ball put Anthony Castledine into the clear, but he crashed his shot inches wide.
At the other end the defence was being marshalled well by team captain Kevin Wandell and Nelson Bay’s chances were few and far between.
They did have one close chance, but Singleton High’s best kept sporting secret, Mark Henderson, was equal to the task and completed a comfortable save.
The teams went to oranges with Singleton having had the better of the going, but with nothing to show for it.
It was a nervous time for the large Singleton supporter base who had witnessed the Over 35s fall at this final hurdle four times before.
Would the football Gods once again conspire against them?
The side came out with renewed vigour and the second half, much to the relief of the crowd, belonged to Singleton.
A number of chances went close to breaking the drought, but it was midfield tyro James Anderson who finally broke the deadlock.
Anderson made good ground down the right hand side and cut in towards goal.
He lashed his shot towards goal and it looked well on it’s way to the back of the net when it deflected off a Bay defender and rebounded into the net. It looked like the first shot would have been a goal anyway, but the deflection made sure of it, and the Strikers were on their way.
Soon after, a goal mouth scramble saw another deflection. This time the deflection smacked against the cross bar and bounced away to safety. But the Bay were reeling.
A two goal buffer was what the crowd needed.
And it was provided by semi final hero Brant Jenkins.
Fresh from scoring a belter in the semi, Jenkins lined up a long range free kick. The dead ball specialist saw his perfectly struck kick lob beautifully over the goal keeper and nestle snugly into the top corner of the net.
The final 15 minutes was all Singleton as Nelson Bay effectively conceded the game.
Dynamic midfielder John Watson once again went close with a back post header that went wide , and evergreen Rod Pearce smacked a shot high over the cross bar as the Strikers pressed home their advantage.
After such a controversial start to the game, it was only proper that the game had a controversial ending as well.
With time running out Singleton’s talismanic striker Rod Luxford was put through into the clear and heading for goal. He rounded the ’keeper and rolled his shot towards the now unprotected goal. With the ball on its way into the goal, the referee blew full time to deny Luxford, and Singleton a third goal.
But a Grand Final win is a Grand Final win irrespective of the score and the 2 – 0 scoreline once again emphatically underlined how successful the TESA sponsored Strikers Over 35 B grade team has been this year.
It was a terrific way to finally shrug off the Over 35 bridesmaid’s tag, and a terrific end to season 2008.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff