Well it was that time of year again last Sunday. Grand final day for the stingers and for the third year in a row we were on the park and ready for a contest. This year the competition was in the form of The Cambridge Saints from Parkes, the team that beat us 4-1 in the major semi-final. With a large crowd and plenty of supporters making the trip to Forbes a great atmosphere was delivered and a warm day was on hand. Both teams showing form throughout the season and previous encounters before the semi-final had resulted in draws,. The Stingers spurred on by the knowledge that if they had their best game and turned up wanting the game more than the opposition that elusive Grand final victory in recent history would be theirs’.
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The team lined up as follows: Peter Little in goals, as readers might be aware the regular goalkeeper Mark Harvey was unavailable for the game after an automatic suspension for receiving a red card in the semi final. In the backs were Brad Galvin, Mitch Wheatley, Murray Walker and Matt Clarke. The starting midfielders were Ben Walker, Phil Simpson, David Knapp and Clare Walker. Up Front our strikers were Michael Walker and Adam Green. Making up the strong bench were Gary Halloran, Mark Aspin, Shane Rudd and James Day.
Well what can be said about the game…to all watching it was apparent that Saints were extremely hungry for the win and the Stingers for the majority of the first half were doing all they could do to thwart the relentless attack. The backs and midfield doing a mountain of work. When the ball made it up to our strikers they were able to create some chances but none really tested out their keeper who always managed to find himself in very good position.
A probing through ball by the Saints midfield and strong pressure on our backs and keeper lead to a mistake and the ball skewed off the toe of one of our players into the back of the net. First goal to the Saints, not convincing, but it seemed to be the lift they needed and not the one you want to concede in a grand final. A soft goal by anybodys standards. Half time came the score 1-0 against the Stingers.
Everyone was busting a gut and working tirelessly in conditions which had definitely heated up since kick off. The team rallied and resolved to not give up this game and throw everything they could with adding extra men up front trying to get a goal back and keep in the game.
As in all games there is always a risk when you are trying even the score and on the offense, you can leave yourself open to the counter attack and that’s precisely what happened. In the last 20 minutes of the game Saints struck twice and sealed the result. The stingers had their chances but today was just not their day, again. It is a hard thing to leave everything you’ve got on the pitch and on the day it just isn’t enough. They were the better team and in post match analysis it was summed up quite succinctly “they played like they wanted it more” maybe that was the case.
At the end of the game something quite unique and a pleasure I’m sure for all involved happened. The team got to form a guard of honour and clap off the retiring patriarch of Senior Soccer in Grenfell and a driving force behind all forms of Soccer within the town for near three decades. Gary Halloran for a long time single handedly ran and drove soccer in Grenfell and I know many many people are extremely thankful for all his efforts. I know much more will be said about his efforts, especially as next year is the 30th year of organised soccer in Grenfell, but from the current Stingers team and its supporters, thankyou Gary.
The presentation was held and Grenfell received our runners up awards but also our Minor Premiership plate for B grade. Which prompts me to quickly reflect on the season that has been. The first challenge of the year was that the team was put up a grade into first division which we hadn’t played in a few years but we had had some success in the 2nd divison as previously mentioned. We didn’t know what we were up for but three particularly pleasing performances through the year would have to be firstly in the second round of the competition we beat the 2013 premiers of A grade 3-1 which was a mighty effort and they told us after the game that they were near enough full strength.
Secondly a draw with an equally as good team the runners up in the 2013 A grade comp we drew with 2-2 and was a particularly gutsy effort after coming back 2 goals down. Thirdly it would have to be the 2-0 loss to the Tichbourne Tigers. That might sound odd but the Tichbourne Tigers have been the form team of the whole competition for over a decade and is still the case as they went on to win the A grade grand final this year. In the past they have beaten the Stingers plenty of times by more than 10 goals and in my memory one of our better results was 7-2 loss so to lose only 2-0 is a great testament to the development of the whole team and to the general improvement of soccer in Grenfell over the years.
A big thankyou again to all of our supporters and particularly our sponsors The bowling Club, the Royal Hotel and Llyal Walkers Butchery.
It has been a great and very enjoyable season. And who knows maybe we will get that sought after Grand final win next year.
