Hawkesbury City Reserves Grand Final win.
Written by Administrator Tuesday, 18 October 2011 08:59
Hawkesbury City SC match Report 1/10/11
Grand Final Winners
Hawkesbury 5 vs. Fairfield Wanderers 3
The Hawks capped of a fantastic year for the club with an outstanding victory in the State League
Division 2 Reserve Grade Grand Final last Saturday.
Having conceded the top spot to the Wanderers in the final competition match due to a draw to Springwood the side resolved itself to taking out the Champions Trophy.
With the game washed out the previous week due to the inclement weather the Hawks fronted up on Saturday at The Hensley Athletic Field synthetic pitch to take on a much reinforced Fairfield Wanderers
In the grand final.
A quiet air of confidence could be felt in the dressing shed as the players went about their preparations and the coaching staff of Les Jones and Shane Burge along with manager Arron Anderson maintained a calm approach to the lead up talks.
Nothing new was required tactically as the players knew their jobs and provided they stuck to the plan
the trophy would return to the Hawkesbury.
Knowing that The Wanderers had qualified a few very experienced first grade players over the closing weeks by playing them in the lower grade was going to make things even more difficult.
As usual the opening 20 minutes was a tight affair with both teams playing some good football, but not willing to expose their defences by pushing forward too early. It took a quick break down the right by speedster Dane Smith, followed by a pin point cross to Dale McKay to open up the Wanderers, an opportunity McKay took with relish as he drove the ball low into the net for a 1-0 lead.
This stung the Wanderers into action, equalizing 5 minutes later when they got behind the Hawks defence to pull the game even at 1-1. Not to be outdone the team composure and determination shone through as they immediately took the initiative, attacking down the flanks for McKay to once again finish off a Smith cross.
For the remainder of the half the Hawks pushed forward against the slower Fairfield defence with go forward man Zac Watters creating havoc to increase the lead to 3-1 before a hard working Edwin George finally got his rewards for his efforts, beating the Fairfield defence for what looked like an unassailable 4-1 lead. Not to be outdone Fairfield once again hit back and the score was 4-2 at the half time break.
The team talk at half time was simple, remain mentally tough, don’t open up in the middle of the park, don’t overdo it individually with the ball and expect everything to be thrown at you in the first 15 minutes.
With nothing to lose Fairfield pushed an extra player forward in the second half and with 15 minutes remaining pulled the score back to 4-3 to set up a big finish. Further opportunities fell to the Hawks to seal the game but were well defended before Fairfield were awarded a penalty with 8 minutes to play and it looked like extra time was on the cards.
The pressure of the occasion took its toll and the penalty was skied over the bar, lifting the Hawks in the closing minutes resulting in Zac Watters acrobatically grabbing the defining goal.
A great year for a great club that has dedicated players, committee and supporters.