It was a clash of the titans as the Wauchope Wolverines took on Tacking Point Thunder in the Port Macquarie Hastings Hockey Association’s A grade men’s Grand Final match.
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Promising to be a hard-fought and suspense-filled game with the 2015 (Wolverines) and 2016 (Thunder) A grade premiers battling it out, it was anybody's game last Friday night.
The Wauchope-RSL sponsored team was a strong favourite due to their dominance throughout the season which led them to take out the minor premiership – yet an upset with Tacking Point Thunder beating them 4-0 in the major semi finals definitely motivated the Wauchope boys to play hard and leave everything on the field.
With the Wolverines being the only team from Wauchope Hockey Club making it to the Grand Final round, a large determined crowd of vehement Wauchope supporters arrived to cheer the boys on to victory.
As it was the most anticipated game of the season and after such a strong spectacular game in the semi-finals Friday night saw the seasons largest crowd gather to watch the A grade men’s Grand Final and see which club would come out on top.
Wauchope pre-game warm-up and chat saw them utilise the team physio Michael Robinson from Wauchope’s Sports & Spinal Physiotherapy to ensure they were in top notch for the game and good thing they did as that night saw the team play in the fastest and most highly skilled game the Port Macquarie Hastings Hockey Association has seen in years.
A lucky break away just after the start whistle saw Thunder quickly penetrate the Wolverines defences and with some short sharp passes within the D score the first goal in just under 3 minutes.
This quickly whipped the Wauchope boys into shape and they pushed back hard – Thunder with the lead continued to pursue chances to score again and try to bring the lead to 2-0 but the Wolverine defence was too strong.
A defensive short corner generated one of the highlights of the match when Wolverine Goal Keeper Dominic Tagliapietra executed an amazing stick save against a fierce drag flick from the Thunder battery denying them the chance to extend their lead.
Both Wauchope and Thunder saw many opportunities in the rest of the first half to score; yet as neither team were able to capitalise on them half time saw the score sitting at 1-0.
A strong team talk generated even more push from the Wauchope boys which saw them hold possession of the ball for most of the 2nd half – yet it took until 13 minutes left for them to capitalise and finally get a mark up on the board – with Matt Dean executing a skilled swivel spin shot around the goal keeper into the goal.
The tying of the score saw the crowd go wild – the tension and electricity in the air from the excitement was palpable; it could go either way and with only 10 minutes left in the game the teams were red hot and playing at 120% of their ability.
The speed of the game was phenomenal with the ball passing from one end of the field to the other quickly causing gasps of excitement/fear from both ends of the supporters camps when either team was in scoring opportunity.
Exceptional defensive play saw a breakaway with Full Back Bryce Hough and Mid fielder Drew Cooper capitalising an interception into an offensive opportunity and managed to result in an attacking short corner.
Strong play from the attacking players saw the conversion of the corner into the Wolverines second goal for the night with less than 2 minutes to go; the Wolverines were in the lead and they were not letting go without a fight.
40 seconds to go saw Thunder in their attacking 25, the Wolverines all pressed back in defence determined to hang onto their lead managed to see the ball over the backline with four seconds to go and with the penalty in their favour both they and the crowd knew; the celebration had begun – The Wolverines had won.
Captain Luke Hough was extremely proud of his team.
“It was a hard fought victory, the boys put in 100% effort all season and tonight they played their hearts out so to get the result and the chance to say we have won the Minor and Major Premierships is a testament to them,” he said.
Wauchope Hockey Club President and a player in the winning team Glen Pursehouse was ecstatic about the victory.
“It’s a shame that we only managed to get one team through the the grand final this year – but for the exposure in helping growing our club and the sport of hockey within Wauchope, this is one of the ones you want to win.”
Glen Pursehouse wishes to use this momentum of the win to be able to continue to grow the sport of hockey within the Wauchope community.
“Our new sponsors this year of Curlys Café and Sport & Spinal Physiotherapy have been instrumental in helping out the club, with this endeavour and we would never be able to provide the club with all the equipment needed without the support of our Major Sponsor the Wauchope RSL Club,” he said.
For now, Glen Pursehouse is just planning to finish out the season with the Junior and Senior Presentations and relax and enjoy the win.