Woongarrah 2 – 1 Southern & Ettalong
The Wildcats overcome their horrific Semi-Final defeat to come from behind to defeat Southern & Ettalong 2-1 thanks to a brace from AJ Henderson and a moment of brilliance from their keeper Corey Hedges as Woongarrah now look for revenge against the Wombats on their quest to be crowned 2024 MPL Premiers.
Four minutes into the do-or-die contest, Woongarrah’s James Stiffle would have the first shot which was saved ending up in a corner. The resulting corner saw a ball whipped in and landing to Ridge Mapu six yards out but he would place his early effort over the goal.
Five minutes later Jacob Lepre would beat the Woongarrah defence to be one-on-one with the opposition goalkeeper only to be denied by a tidy save and the game remained scoreless after two great chances in the opening stages.
Another Woongarrah corner and another goal-mouth scramble by a determined Southern defence kept the Wildcats at bay once again.
On the 30-minute mark, Dylan Holz would come close to scoring as a low and hard James Stiffle cross flew across the face of goal begging to be tapped in, only for it to brush his studs and go out for a goal kick.
The rest of the half would remain an even affair with both sides going tooth and nail at each other, but neither was able to break the deadlock as the game remained 0-0 to conclude the opening period.
The first chance of the second stanza came from Southern when Charlie Polson found himself with space outside the box and his effort came dangerously close to finding the net, only to be denied by another great save.
The resulting corner saw Jack Ellwood in space alone in the box as his bicycle attempt was goal-bound, but once again Hedges was on hand to deny the acrobatic effort.
The deadlock was eventually broken ten minutes into the second period when a magnificent turn from Alfie Martin found himself in the box one-one-one as his initial shot on goal was denied but fell kindly to an oncoming Brock Van Aalderen who tapped into an open net for the game’s first goal.
Southern’s lead would only last a few minutes as a Woongarrah free kick from near the sideline was delivered in by Jacob Melling, finding Aj Henderson’s head who rose above his defender and guided the ball past the Southern keeper to level the score.
With the game in the balance, some well-worked play down the right side would see Alex Govorcin’s initial cross hit the Southern player in the stomach, Alex’s second attempt at the cross would go back stick finding an unmarked Aj Henderson who was on hand to head home once again, giving the Wildcats a 2-1 lead with 18 minutes of normal time to play.
A determined Southern with their season on the line threw everything they could at Woongarrah in search of an equaliser. With time running out, Southern’s efforts would be rewarded as they were awarded a penalty.
Jack Ellwood would step up but was denied by a fantastic save from Corey Hedges who dove to his left and pushed the ball out for a corner.
With time still on the clock, Southern would continue to throw everything forward and a long ball into the box would be headed on to Ellwood who would find the net this time, but no goal was awarded due to an offside as Woongarrah would hold on and claim a spot in the 2024 MPL First Grade Grand Final.
“Firstly, I congratulate Matty and his boys on their great season,” spoke Luke Rogers. “On the game, it was a typical finals football match. Played by two good sides desperate to win. Very close and I think the scoreboard also reflects it.”
“Very pleased with my boys with the way they handled the setbacks and stayed mentally strong. They have worked so hard this year and I’m very happy they have made the Grand Final.”
Matt Page also spoke on the result. “This result is a tough one to swallow for us, especially with how the back end of the game played out. But all credit to Woongarrah, they had the better of the play in the first half and made it hard for us all night.”
“At the end of the day the game is decided by moments and Woongarrah won more of the big moments than what we did. We went after the game until the bitter end but this time we couldn’t quite get the job done. I’m super proud of the fight my lads showed on Saturday night and all season. We will regroup and try to go a bit further next year.”
Page added, “We wish both Berkeley Vale and Woongarrah all the best in the grand final, they are the two most consistent teams all year and deserve to be playing on the final weekend. I’m sure it will be a cracking game!”
Match Official – Miles Allen-Scott
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