All Age Sunday Cs - CHAMPIONS 2015

Post date: Aug 23, 2015 1:11:41 PM

In what was a high quality and dramatic grand final today at Centenary Park in Croydon, Cooks River Titans AAS Cs defeated Abbotsford Juniors 1-0 to be crowned champions for 2015 and deliver the first ever silverware to the Club in just its first year.

A change in weather with some earlier rain was not enough to dampen a buoyant mood amongst Sam Galanis' men as they had almost a full strength squad available for the match despite a couple of players carrying niggling injuries.

The game kicked off with the high intensity and it wasn't long into the game when a ball into the box was handballed by an Abbotsford defender with the referee having no option but to award a penalty. The penalty hit the post and rebounded out but that seemed to renew the Titans determination to take the game to Abbotsford.

Cooks River continued to make inroads in the first half creating many nervy moments for the the blue and golds and in the 29th minute managed to get the breakthrough. A professional foul for shirt pulling was awarded to the Titans 15 metres on the right hand side of the Abbotsford half. A great ball was swung into the box just behind the defence and a perfect header looped over the stranded keeper to give the Titans the lead.

Six minutes later the Titans broke through again and another looping header was this time tipped over the bar by the Abbotsford custodian.

Juniors had a couple of great chances to draw level before the break with one of the attempts cleared off the line after the keeper was beaten.

The second half continued in the same vein with Cooks River knocking the ball around and creating openings and Abbotsford forced to play a counter attacking game and resorted to taking long range shots which were all managed efficiently by the Titans defence.

The pace of the game did not let up and despite some solid tackles, the game in all was played in a good spirit. With the game in the balance, there were half chances at either end keeping the 200 strong crowd on the edge of their seats.

With just 2 minutes to go, the Abbotsford keeper barged the Titans striker after grabbing hold of the ball and the referee again blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. However, yet again the penalty rebounded off the post and was eventually cleared.

At the sound of the final whistle, jubilant scenes were witnessed by the players, coaching staff, club officials and supporters. Although the team dropped a few points towards the tail end of the season due to player and coaching staff absentees, they were arguably the best team in the league and fully deserved being crowned champions for 2015.