What a way to finish a season of Premier League football with the league leaders West Pymble hosting Lindfield who are number two on the table in the final match of the season. The winner takes the glory. The winner will be League Champions.
And neither team disappointed this afternoon, putting on a great game of football.
West Pymble came in to the match on 41 points having beaten almost every other team in the league. They had only dropped two matches in their incredible season. If they won this afternoon, this would be their first Premier League title for almost twenty years. The last time that they were champions was way back in 1998.
Lindfield had won the league two years ago. They are a strong, disciplined side. They have good, broad management and coaching. And they are the top team of the largest football club on the North Shore. They were currently in second spot on 39 points. Therefore they had to win this match to win the league.
West Pymble’s side today was:
1 – Clement Burgmann in goal
At the back
23 – Raymond Lee
26 – Michael Reece
16 – Jamie Wall
34 – Robert Currer
Midfield:
9 – Matthew Laming
31 – Joel Palte
35 – Daniel Hepworth
Up front:
12 – Jordan Matthews
21 – Etinosa Amegor
50 – Niall Codling
And on the bench
8 – Jack Standing
7 – James Pitcher
11 – Karlo Maralit
17 – Ricky Vikas
29 – Alexander Aylmer
Lindfield’s side today was:
21 – Gerard Marino in Goal
At the back
15 – Nicholas Barwick
19 – Sam Clayton
36 – Agneesh Lahiri
17 – Tom Goulding
Midfield
8 – Aymeric Grant
13 – Vincent Oxenham
4 – Jack Richardson
Upfront
9 – Jason Lal
35 – Joshua Ciabatti
52 – Simon Scougall
And starting on the bench
7 – Scott Ryan
21 – Gerard Marino
33 – Peter Koelma
34 – Daniel Hurwitz
37 – Adrian Cocaro
18 – Matthew Ventura
Both sides started hard. This was an important game and both sides wanted to get on to the score sheet first.
Barwick, Clayton, Lahiri and Goulding were tested constantly and so were Lee, Reece and Wall for Pymble.
West Pymble played their strong game in Lindfield’s half, putting the goal under constant attack with an early near miss from Amegor using his size and strength to reach a header in the box which narrowly missed its mark.
Lindfield returned the favour with shots from Ciabatti and Lal. Lal is an ex-Fijian International player and new signing to Lindfield this year, bringing a new level of skill and mental toughness to an already accomplished side.
The breakthrough for Lindfield came five minutes from half time when a ball sent up field was mis-cued by the Pymble defence; Burgmann scrambled to clear but didn’t get to it in time leaving an easy goal for Ciabatti.
1:0 to Lindfield at half time.
The second half saw a couple of big shot from Richardson for Lindfield which sent Burgmann to full stretch but it whistled right of the goal.
Pymble returned the favour with great move up right wing from Laming but the cross couldn’t be put away.
Two minutes later Laming didn’t make the same mistake. Off a throw from Amegor he popped one in to the top left of the net. The local crowd was ecstatic. All Pymble needed was a draw today to win the league.
Pymble immediately slowed things down. Playing tactically in the corners, Pymble forced Lindfield to give away corners, taking time over any throw-ins and generally frustrating play. Lindfield were desperate to get one more goal and knew that time was running out.
Pymble were not simply thwarting play, they were also finding gaps with a great shot from Amegor from outside 18 yard box which went over the crossbar.
Then Pymble put the match beyond all doubt. With only a few minutes to go Standing scored off a corner taking Pymble to 2:1.
Moments later the final whistle blew and West Pymble were League Champions. This was a great game of football and a fitting end to an interesting and exciting season.
