Stoked in the Valley

We arrived a Delaney Park, home of Stokes Valley and scene of their grade winning come-from-behind final day 3-2 victory over the Stallions, knowing that we would have to win 7-0 to take out top spot in our section of the cup. While that was out of reach, we were confident we could win and take out second place; we had some unfinished business after the aforementioned 5 goal thriller.

For the first time this season we were missing our defensive rock Corey, which was a concern given Stokes Valley's controlled passing game. There were also a number of supporters present, many of whom seemed convinced they were here to watch Stokes Valley's procession to the final. However, the game started well for us; while Stokes Valley probably had the greater possession and territory, the defense was solid, if occasionally stretched. The wide midfielders were quickly back to mark their opposites, which was necessary as Stokes Valley looked to move the ball to the corners.

However, in the first half it would be a story of who took their chances; and with two minutes to go before the half time whistle the names on the score sheet would be Rauru and Lloyd in quick succession.

They were clearly burnt by this, and were fired up at the start of the second half. We lost possession quickly from our kick off, but seemed to have things under control through Joe on the right. However, miscommunication with Gus who was looking to take the ball ended up with Gus in a screaming heap on the floor and the ball in the back of our net with less than a minute played; as comical a Stallions moment as there has ever been.

The comedy continued straight after the kickoff, as a poor first touch from Hodges, which was dribbling towards their goal, was hopelessly misjudged by their keeper to restore the 2 goal advantage. The ball was so weakly hit that there is serious doubt that it actually reached the back of the nest, and as for Hodges' post match claims that he 'put spin on it', well....

At this point Stokes Valley stepped up in their control, and there was a period of sometime where our goal came under a barrage of attack. To be fair, while their passing was as silky smooth as Div 7 gets, taking advantage of the extra man forward now they only had 3 at the back, they got very few shots away, and to the credit of the defence those they did unleash were generally from outside of the box and going nowhere. Our forays were limited to breakaways; and a superb break here by Panda down the right, which he finished after (finally) backing himself and smashing the ball past his marker and the keeper, in the process upping our lead to 4-1.

The final few minutes of the game sore the Stallions on the defence; Rauru brought himself back to midfield, and Lloyd seemingly the lone striker. However the final whistle came and went, and with it, Stokes Valleys hopes that victory in the final next week would be anything but Pyrrhic.

Stallion was deservedly awarded to Tangi for his outstanding work in central defense; although there were players all over the park that put in Stallion worthy performances. The Jo/Gus incident could not be overlooked in the awarding of the Pony. But what it comes down to was that, for me at least, it was a privilege to be a part of this, one of the finest Stallions wins of all time. And we have the Karori Aces next week to determine 3rd and 4th place. Bring it!