Wodonga Diamonds players and fans will no doubt be sporting some headaches at work today as they made it two AWFA cup titles in a row. Diamonds took on league champions Twin City Wanderers on Sunday in a matchup that had local football fans drooling with anticipation. The Jelbart Park match kicked off to a roar of cheers from an exceptional turnout; with action aplenty from the get go. In a see sawing first half, it was a Paul Brunec lob that gave Diamonds the lead on 35 minutes. Earlier an injury to key man Matthew Gray looked to derail Wanderers cup hopes however they came out firing in the second half. Twin City had all the ball and it looked to be a case of ‘when’, not ‘if’ they would score. It took them until the 85th minute to take advantage of their superiority as a Matt Follows assist led to a Shaun Willhelm goal.
To the neutral supporters delight, the match entered two halves of extra time in what was a fast paced, end-to-end period. Once again the two teams couldn’t be split and thus the dreaded penalty shootout would have to decide this years winner. A solid first save by Diamonds goalkeeper Benjamin Russell helped his side take the upper hand in the shootout, making it a hard task for Wanderers to recover. Both teams went goal for goal thereafter until finally Russell had the chance to pull off the winning save for the red and white. Golden boot winner Zac Walker stepped up for Wanderers to keep their cup hopes alive, however Russell dived low and across to save the ball which he didn’t want to let go, running to halfway with the ball as his teammates dived on him in celebration. A bitter defeat for favourites Twin City as they went down 5-3 on penalties. Daniel Millyn was man of the match.
Earlier in the day Albury City also made it back-to-back cup finals defeating Boomers FC 3-1 in the Women’s final. An own goal followed by a Zoe Jackson strike made it 2-0 in favor of City. However Boomers regrouped early in the second half through an Alana Parascos goal to make it a 1-goal game. Four minutes later, Jackson made her presence felt once more, sealing the match for the Albury side mid way through the second half. It was an emotional win for Albury, after finishing the league in fifth spot and having a ‘mid season crisis talk’, the victory is a reflection of all the hard work that has come in the latter half of the year. Zoe Jackson who played a phenomenal game won the woman of the match award among a plethora of possible choices.
Here are all the scores in the other finals games from Sunday.
Under 11
St. Pats FC 3 def Boomers F.C. 1;
Under 12
Wodonga Diamonds 4 def Albury City FC 0;
Under 13
Wangaratta 1 lost to Melrose FC 2;
Under 14
Albury City FC 4 def Albury Hotspurs 2
Under 16
Myrtleford 2 def Wangaratta 1;
Division 3 Men
T.C.W. 4 lost to Albury United 6;
Over 35 Men
Albury United 1 def St. Pats FC 0;
Under 12 Girls
Albury City FC 1 lost to Albury Hotspurs 3;
Under 14 Girls
Albury City FC 6 def St. Pats FC 4;
Under 17 Girls
Wodonga Diamonds 1 def Albury United 0;
Reserve Women
Albury United 1 def Wodonga Diamonds 0;
Reserve Men
Albury United 1 lost to T.C.W. 2;
Senior Women
Boomers F.C. 1(A Parascos 1 – 55th minute) lost to Albury City FC 3 (Own Goal 1, Z Jackson 2 – 50th & 59th minutes);
Senior Men
T.C.W. 3 (S Wilhelm 1, J Coutts 1, A West 1) lost to Wodonga Diamonds 5 (H Magerstein 1, D Pawlik 1, D Nhansana 1, D Millynn 1, J Herzina 1, P Brunec 1);
Photo’s courtesy of The Border Mail, Albury City & Wodonga Diamonds
