Goal: Joe.

In a fairly warmish day and only 14 players at kick off Spartans looked to secure the title after learning of USRC defeat on Friday Night. Goodfellas looked to have lost a few players and where certainly not the same team we played in the first round however the result and match pretty much replicated the first game.

Kick Off and Spartans on a terrible and uneven Happy Valley surface settled better. However the first real chance went to Goodfellas. Not for a scrambling clearance by Bertie we could have easily gone down one nil after Thomas our keeper was beaten.
However we started to show our dominance and chances started to get created. Simon had a great chance after Jimmy Rose stole the ball from their defender only for Simon to hit it wide. We started to pile the pressure and Adam had a great chance to put us ahead but hit it wide. Rob also had a shot but couldn’t beat the Goodfellas keeper who had obviously brought his A game. Then Briggsyheader one on one somehow got saved.

As the half drew to close and looking to go into the break goalless, young Joe produced a bit of magic. He turned his defender with his first touch then one touch slammed it home with a great finish leaving the keeper no chance.

The second half we were on a real high. For the first 15 minutes we could have easily gone up 5-nil like we have all season. However one glaring miss after another mixed with some fantastic keeping somehow kept the game at 1-0. With 20 minutes gone the game turned on it’s head with a casual bad back pass. Goodfellas player ran through and was brought down by Thomas M for a penalty.

The tension was high and Goodfellas player crumbled and hit the ball over the bar. A huge let off. From that point Goodfellas were a different team they started to create chances. One came from corner which their player looked to have scored however got deflected by one of their own players off the line. Another let off.

We bounced back and Nacho and Forlan came on and both had a few terrific chances along with a host of other players to put the game out of reach. But in the end we just couldn’t score. We settled for a narrow win with a lot of lady luck although we really should have scored a few more goals.

We played well on a hot day but the number of missed chance were too many. A game which we needed a win we got there…but only just.

A host of players played well and contested for MOM. Both Steve G and Rob were excellent in the centre, Jim Rose had a terrific game. Briggsy and Bertie battled hard in the centre and Thomas D and Steph were brilliant in Defence. Thomas Ma held on to some shots and crosses and looked solid throughout with a few saves.

Up front Simon was playing well along with Nacho and Forlan. But a well deserved MOM goes to young Joe for a terrific finish and some hard work up front and in the midfield when bought back in the second half.