Week 5 of Finals

Post date: Sep 6, 2022 9:55 AM

Finals week 5 – Update

The final weekend of all competitions saw our club with 2 teams competing in Grand Finals: one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

On Saturday, our AllAge/8s kicked off at Tempe Reserve in cold, wet and windy conditions against Leichhardt Saints. Our AllAge/8s were the minor premiers and Leichhardt finished second in the regular season. Two weeks earlier, both teams met in the major semi-final where Cooks River triumphed 2-0. Despite the conditions, a healthy crowd was on hand to watch this contest. Cooks River dominated the early stages and had a couple of good chances to hit the lead. Leichhardt too had a chance which hit the bar and rebounded straight down and then cleared by the Titans defence. It was Leichhardt who struck first from a counter attack with a ball behind the Cooks River defence and took this 1-0 lead into half time. 14 minutes into the second half, Leichhardt double their lead when the Titans failed to clear the ball from their penalty box. Cooks River then pushed further forward to try and salvage the match and again missed chance after chance. This left them open at the back and with 8 minutes to play conceded a third goal to finish the scoring with a Leichhardt 3-0 win.

On Sunday, our Under13/3s were playing their grand final and the venue was again Tempe Reserve. There was no rain as the sun was out but the wind was just as strong as the day before. Our Under13/3s were also minor premiers and unbeaten during the whole season so the pressure was certainly on to maintain that against a determined Balmain team which rose from 3^rd to make the Grand Final. The Titans finished a whopping 17 points higher on the ladder but game was incredibly tight. Cooks River had the wind in the first half and apart from a couple of shots from distance could not capitalise. In the second half, Balmain pressed forward and the wind made it hard for the Titans to regularly get the ball into the Balmain half. Balmain had a shot from distance which looked to be going in but was plucked from the air by the Titans keeper. Cooks River then burst forward and found themselves one on one with the keeper and broke the deadlock. They created another couple of chances as did Balmain but the score ended 1-0 in favour of the sky blues.

Out of the 7 teams which made the grand final, 3 teams ended up winning and 4 teams ended up as runners up. A remarkable season for the club.