Stallions 2010, the final edition vs Lower Hutt

A moment (or two) of brilliance from an unlikely source was the difference in the final game of the season for the triumphant 2010 Stallions.

The start of the game was delayed due to Lower Hutt being scared to take the field after their humiliation the last time these two teams met. Another beatdown was on the cards with Lower Hutt leaking as many goals in recent games as the Titanic did water. The only beatdown happening however was on the next door field with a massive fight taking place during a rugby match. Everyone was quite enjoying watching handbags being thrown until a little #11, who was throwing as many cheeky punches to people lying on the ground as he could, got laid out by a punch that hit so hard that even Lance Cairns would have heard it (see his recent interview on Campbell Live if you don't get this reference).

After the pre game excitement the real match got underway. The rare green and yellow Panda couldn't be found anywhere, and Lower Hutt only had 11 so couldn't ref so the Stallions started with just the one sub. Lower Hutt started well, their confidence high as they saw that the four goal hero from the last game, R. Walker, was the man behind the whistle. Their pace up front made the Stallions defenders look they were running on a treadmill, but good scrambling by the defence and equally good goal keeping kept out the goals. There were a few nervous moments with stand in keeper Bell parrying the ball onto the crossbar from one cross, as well as parrying another over the crossbar from a direct freekick. The Stallions were also managing to break well with there being a lot of space in the midfield even at this early stage of the game.

It was the set piece however that was to be the undoing of Lower Hutt. After winning a corner, Sawyer sent in an outswinging corner from the right that was met by the head of Wong. The ball seemed to be traveling reasonably harmlessly toward their player standing on the near post however he took a massive swing at the ball and somehow managed to miss it completely. 1-0 Stallions.

Wong was so overwhelmed with his first goal of the season he subbed himself off not much later, before getting behind the whistle himself. The rest of the half continued on without too much drama, other than a decent penalty shout by Lower Hutt with one of their players going down in the box. Replays suggest however that it was probably a dive and that their player could easily have been carded himself.

The second half continued on in much the same way as the first. Lower Hutt's youthful strikers continued to attack the Stallions aging defence, but the cool heads at the back did enough to keep the scorers unoccupied.

The Stallions were causing a few problems of their own up front with the Mann and 'The Giant' wrecking havoc down the wings. Mann and R. Walker combined in the goal box well with Walker getting a shot away that was well saved by the keeper, only for The Giant to blaze over. Mann was heard commenting "And that one was meant to be a pass", an apparent reference to his 'assist' from the previous weekend.

It was not long of a wait however until that moment of brilliance. The man at the centre of it was Wong, but it was oh so right (sorry, couldn't resist). Wong's goals were like twins - both from a corner from the right, both outswingers, both met by Wong in roughly the same place - although they were far from identical. While first one gets considered the 'nice guy friend' by his female peers, the second has movie star good looks. This goal is so awesome, Ben Hodges' goals wear pyjamas with its' image on them.

This time the Mann delivered the corner which drifted to Wong who was standing near the top of the box. While most would have taken an almighty swing and sent the ball back towards their own goal, Wong timed the flight of the ball to perfection with his volley rocketing into the back of the net. While 005 has tried reinacting this goal on the Playstation, I'll leave it to Zizu to best describe it. Just imagine it came from a corner and was hit with his right foot and it's more or less identical. Stallions 2-0




With 15 to go Lower Hutt managed to pull one back with a surging run by one of their midfielders through the centre of the park before unleashing a powerful shot from just outside the box that Bell managed to get a hand on but could not keep it out of the net. 2-1.

With 5 minutes to go it looked like Lower Hutt had done enough to get some points as another run down opened up the Stallions defence, the ball was crossed in and Hinkly, who had done well to get back into the box, could not get his hand out of the way quick enough (a problem he struggled with throughout the game). The Butcher could not ignore the shouts of handball and awarded a penalty. The man to step up to take the spot kick was Lower Hutt's regular keeper who had been given a licence to play in the outfield for the game. His moment of glory was finally upon him as he was given the chance to score his first goal, although he struck the ball so poorly that even Goodall and Aitofi cringed. The ball bounced so many times before it reached Bell that Bell almost lost his balance and fell over it. The Butcher couldn't believe it either and almost called "No ball!" before realising his surroundings. Lower Hutt players were heard saying "and that's why he's keeper" although one couldn't help but feel that's why he shouldn't be keeper.

The rest of the game progressed as usual with a few scary moments in the Stallions defensive quarter, but the scorers were not to be troubled again, with the final whistle going with the scores at 2-1. Bell in goal and Wong in the outfield were the undoubted heroes of the game, with Wong's moment of brilliance possibly going down as one of the greatest goals in Stallions history.

And so that it is for the Stallions 2010 vintage. The 10th year in their history will see them back in division 6 where it all started, with off season training starting up in a few weeks in the form of 5-a-side. 2011 cant come soon enough.