Week 4 of the Finals

Post date: Sep 1, 2019 11:21:02 AM

The fourth week of the finals was played last weekend and we had 4 teams in Grand Final action.

On Saturday the first Grand Final kicked off at 12.30pm at Edwards Park in Concord between our All Age 13s and Balmain. Our All Age 13s were the Minor Premiers and won their major semi final so had a week off leading up to the big game. They took an early lead but Balmain fought back to level the scores. The Titans were not on their game and Balmain applied the pressure to grab another 2 goals to run out 3-1 winners.

The match immediately afterwards on the same ground were our All Age 10s against Burwood. The All Age 10s again were the Minor Premiers and had only played Burwood two weeks prior beating the 6-0. The Titans started off on the right foot with a goal after 10 minutes. They continued to press creating multiple chances and even hit the crossbar from a long range shot. Burwood only counter attacked and it was a cruel ricochet which fell to the Burwood striker who beat the keeper in a one-on-one to send the scores level at half time. Cooks River bombarded the Burwood goal in the second half again hitting the post and had a shot cleared off the line but could not find a winner. Extar time was needed and neither team could break the deadlock so penalties were needed. Unfortunately the Titans went down 4-3 in the cruelest of endings.

On Sunday our first Grand Final was at 10am at Strathfield Park with our Under16 Division 2 team. They again were facing Minor Premiers Burwood who they narrowly lost to two weeks prior. Burwood got off to a great start after just 5 minutes and took an early lead. The Titans fought back well and eventually got the equaliser. Cooks River were playing the better football but Burwood's direct approach continued to cause problems. The Sky Blue's pushed forward with around 10 minutes to go and scored a good goal to take a 2-1 lead. Burwood though pushed up immediately from the restart and moments later restored parity sending the match into extra time golden goal. Both teams did not let up and went for the winner. Unfortunately for the valiant Titans, it was Burwood who broke through and scored the winner to take the final 3-2.

Immediately following that match was the Under16 Division 1 grand final between Minor Premiers Earlwood and Cooks River who did beat them a fortnight ago to be the first team into the grand final. This was a Grand Final replay from the year before and the game was just as tight as every previous meeting between the two teams. Such was the intensity that neither team was fluent in their play. It had a feel that one goal would win it and it was Earlwood who managed that in the second half. The Titans went searching for an equaliser but some dogged defending did not allow them to create any real chances to keep the score at 1-0 until the full time whistle.