Thanks all on the congrats.
The Match
To be honest, we were very flat for the first 20 and Westside had us on our heels. Easily could have been down a goal early on. As the half wore on, we started to settle down and I think Westside was having problems defending our line-up (4-3-3 Smallsy
).
Steady opened the scoring on a great through ball by Reedy. I don't think Wicks would have made the stop on that one. Steady was causing the Westside backs fits I think and w/o Jammo, you could tell that he was going to cause them problems all day long. Randall then potted our second before half off of a scramble in the box from another corner in this provincial run of ours. I don't know why but our corners were deadly in the last few games.
The first half ended with Besty getting crunched at the top of our box by Nico.
Halftime
Great entertainment put on. No move though
Second half saw Besty on the sidelines and the game open up. Westside needed to push forward and we took advantage... though Westside did hit the post in a scramble off of a corner of their own. Bunny was subbed in and took over from where Steady left off by going at their backs down the flanks time after time. Speed kills. A 2 on 1 saw Bunny slip the ball across (when he should have shot) to Randall who slotted this one for our third.
Besty came back on to finish the match but it wasn't to be their day. I wouldn't necessarily call it a piss-taking as the early pressure by Westside was significant. However, once they had to open up, we definitely dictated play and had a few bouts of great possession.
Jammo would have made a huge difference but I think we still would have pulled this one out. Our team was hungry.
Where was the youngster Nenad?
The Venue
Having the match at Swanguard seemed like such a great idea when it was announced a few months ago. The pitch was absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere was a bit dodgy to start the match but got better as the game went on. Not having the beer gardens open might have put a damper on things (the Caps need to do something about this... they only allow 2 beers at a time and it takes about 30 minutes to get a pint in the single lineup they have... I understand it's a Burnaby Parks thing but fcuk is it a nightmare). I could do w/o the DJ playing crap tunes during the match as well
They kicked us out of the dressing room by halftime of the Caps game... some of the Caps gameday staff didn't look too impressed with the state of the changerooms either
I mentioned before the match about players needing tickets to get in... it turned out we didn't so kudos to whomever made that decision.
Lenarduzzi presented the Cup. Anyone know why?
Reedy and Randall were co-MVPs. There were several others that could have been up there with them but I don't think you can argue against the choices made. Reedy was strong and committed the whole game. Randall struggled early but you can't argue against 2 goals in the final.
PEI should be a blast. We've been to Nationals before and know it's going to be tough especially with the overall age of our team. Hopefully P2 Soccer can work some magic and we'll have a strong supporting cast with the likes of Sarge, Mastro and myself fit
It's going to be a good way to go out on top
Cheers,
~Regs.