By Kerry Harvey | posted on September 29, 2019
POLONIA and Rovers met in the Great Southern Soccer Association Mens’ Premier Cup Final last weekend with the former team crowned premiers.
Rovers had a shaky start to the season but proved to be the dark horse and came through to the finals with a single goal.
As soon as the whistle was blown both teams were on the attack, a fast-paced game perfect for the crowd that had gathered.
Within five minutes, Rovers had made three goal attempts, a goal from Polonia’s Tom Carrington, also the player of the match, in just the seventh minute was all that Polonia needed.
Rovers’ young players Lucas Wrigley and Daniel Lee were a constant worry for the Polonia defence with Wrigley continually making goal opportunities for the Rovers.
The frustration for Rovers was evident by the collection of yellow cards issued early in the second half.
Rovers brought in reinforcements from their substitute bench in a final bid to equalise the score.
Polonia however had other ideas and provided a strong defence to prevent them, including some impressive saves from their keeper Phil Udecz.
It seemed in the dying minutes that Rovers were certain to score, however it was not to be and Polonia were confirmed the winners when the whistle blew at full time, 1 to 0.
The Men’s were not the only Cup upsets this year.
In the Women’s Premier League, Phoenix had an amazing cup journey early on, competing in a fierce contest with Denmark who could feel pretty certain to have a good shot at the cup.
Phoenix caused a major upset in the semis, winning the game in a penalty shootout.
Port Albany were then their opponents, Phoenix playing a strong game and winning their cup campaign with a solid 5 to 0.
In the Men’s Reserves, Bayswater, the League winners, prevented Polonia from adding a second cup to their cabinet, instead adding a second to their own, 2 to 0.
In the Women’s Reserves, Mount Barker who were previously a Premier team last year and had to rebuild their team, proved they had done their hard work in training in the season, faced off against league favourites Denmark who were eager to win, 1 to 0.
The Denmark side had to hold their defence for the rest of the game, a difficult task but not for Denmark who were able to secure the cup.
In the Socials, the men’s Rovers Vets, who had played a solid game in the previous semi, found themselves unable to field a full team.
So the Old Boys were awarded the cup by forfeit, a team formed for the day and all 19 players from the Old Boys got the chance to play in their final as a scratch match.
Polonia had their third team in the final, represented by the Social Women with Great Southern Grammar as their opponents.
However Grammar proved to be the stronger side on the night by netting six goals to Polonia’s two.
