You had to be careful and not blink or you would have missed the first goal scored in the Mixed Indoor Soccer grand final last Wednesday night at the youth centre.
Marc Cummins found the back of the net within 20 seconds of the kick off to give his Never Inbetweeners team a great psychological advantage.
Never Inbetweeners went into last week’s grand final match as the underdogs having not previously beaten their opposition, Man Chest Hair United (MCHU), this season.
They came out as premiers after pulling off the upset of the season with a brilliant 3-1
win.
MCHU, despite having the majority of possession and territory for most of the first half, wasn’t able to get a goal past Never Inbetweeners’ goalie Simon Prince.
Prince showed plenty of agility in front of the net and his advantage of long limbs, ensured that nothing got past him.
MCHU’s Shannon Purton looked threatening each time she was within striking range but Prince and part time goalie, Cummins (when he was taking a break from the mid-court), stopped all her shots.
There was a good battle raging in the mid court throughout the match between Cummins and MCHU’s Josh Brown with the pair evenly matched in soccer skills.
It wasn’t until five minutes before half time that MCHU evened the score when Ben Turton went one-on-one with Prince and slotted the ball into the corner of the net to score.
At the other end of the court MCHU’s goalie Mitch Holt, although not having as high a workload as Prince, was proving to be just as effective at guarding their goal and the scores at half time were locked at 1-all.
The intensity immediately lifted in the second half and neither side looked like gaining the upper hand.
It wasn’t until midway through the second half that the score changed and a goal by Player of the Grand Final, Carrieann O’Hagan, sealed what would be the win for Never Inbetweeners.
After saving another shot at goal, Prince’s big kick down court found the waiting boot of O’Hagan who deftly shot it past Holt to give her Never Inbetweeners team the upset win.
Jason Foster was outstanding in defence for his Never Inbetweeners team covering the whole court throughout the match while Michela Carter provided plenty of firepower to their attack.
MCHU threw everything they could into the dying minutes of the game trying to force a tie and extra time, however Never Inbetweeners held off for the 3-1 win.
The end of season presentations followed the game and, in addition to prizes being awarded to the premiers and Player of the Grand Final, Michaela Cartner and Josh Brown received the season’s Best and Fairest players award.
Brown also scored the Most Goals of the Season for the men with 13.
He shared the award with team mate Jade Buckman (13) while another teammate, Bianka Jacobson, was the Highest Female Goal Scorer of the season with 14.
