GRAND Final Day for the Southern Tablelands Football Associations lived up to expectations with fine mostly sunny weather and teams playing their absolute best.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Like the finals the week before, the contests started with a thrilling down-to-the-wire Division 2 Under-13s and finished with the All Age Men’s Division 1 trophy.
In game one, Goulburn Stags FC U13 saved their best until last, defeating a gallant Crookwell side in a penalty shootout.
After some close-fought games throughout the season, there was always little separating the teams and Crookwell would have gone into the match feeling confident as they had defeated the Stags team on the four occasions they had played them previously.
The Stags had other ideas, however, and after some enterprising lead-up work, Isaac Mills found himself in space and duly slotted home a neat goal in the 10th minute to give his team an early lead, which they hung on to until the half-time break.
It was inevitable that Crookwell were going to come out hard in the second half and, after some entertaining play from both teams, Crookwell were able have a period of sustained pressure, which led to a Isaiah Druett equaliser with less than 10 minutes to play.
The final minutes were tense, with play going from end-to-end, but neither side could break the deadlock and so a penalty shootout was needed. The winner was Stags, converting 3 penalties to 1.
It was an entertaining match, described by some as the match of the day, and one played with enthusiasm by both sides.
Stags goalkeeper Michael Chintis was named Player of the Grand Final after pulling off some impressive saves that went a long way to helping his team take the victory. The Goulburn Stags’ Player of the Grand Final was back Rohan Fleming.
The U15 Division 2 game between MBK and Marulan was a similarly close contest.
MBK succeeded in drawing the keeper out of the goals and a long-range kick from Jem Green bounced through the opening.
MBK succeeded in defending this one goal for the rest of the contest, although Marulan had several opportunities to score that either went astray or were repelled.
The same applied to MBK, who also came close to scoring, but good defence or mistiming denied them an extra goal. Marulan can certainly hold their heads high for the spirited way they played throughout the season.
The U13 Division 1 game between Workers and Marulan was not so close, with Workers winning 4-0.
The U15 Division 1 Wollondilly and Stags White game ended with a penalty shootout: 3-1 to Wollondilly.
