Saints Black triumph in intraclub tussle as Yacht Club take out reserves premiership

The sun was shining and the stand was packed for the women’s and men’s A-reserve grand finals on Saturday at the Iluka Hockey Stadium. It was a family affair in the women’s with Saints Gold taking on sister team Saints Black. Saints Black took the bragging rights in a tight and well-fought match-up with just one goal separating the teams, Black taking the win 1-0. Saints Black looked full of confidence from the start having defeated Yacht Club in the preliminary final 4-2. Black was on the offence early and the ball was rarely out of their attacking half. Saints Black’s Jessica Peel was instrumental in many attacking plays and dominated her wide position. Saints Gold’s Rheanna Jupp did her best to ensure Saints Black were limited in their attacking plays. Black was denied a first-half goal despite protests from the bench, the ball being judged to have been kicked over the line. Gold captain, Carly Wood ran her defence like a general and made sure the score line remained at 0-0 until four minutes into the last quarter when Lisa Norris got the ball over the line after a well-crafted team effort. Charlene Miller, who was the stand-in captain for Saints Black after captain Belinda Basell tested positive for COVID earlier in the day, was humble in her team’s victory. “To have both reserves sides in the final was awesome but it was sad that one of us had to lose on the day,” she said Liz Watters was the well-deserved MVP, thanking her “hockey sisters” for a well-fought match and season. Casuals, fresh from their impressive 5-1 victory over Saints in the preliminary final, took on Yacht Club in a well-fought out and heated mens A-reserve grand final. Yacht Club came out as eventual winners 2-1 in a match that went down to the final strike of the ball . The energy was high from both teams and this showed in some aggressive plays on the pitch as Yacht Club’s Nicolas Bailey went down in front of goal with a nasty head wound early in the second quarter. Sportsmanship was shown and both teams settled into a rhythm before the half-time siren. Yacht Club’s intense attacking pressure was rewarded with an impressive looping goal from Kurt Davey. Casuals were denied a goal deep into the half after a technical foul was called. The second half saw Yacht Club back in the driver’s seat, scoring again with two minutes left of the third quarter after a great effort from Cameron Christie in a well-rehearsed team set piece. Yacht Club captain Craig Palmer marshalled his team with vigour, ensuring Casuals’ attacking plays were limited while Jay O’Sullivan was also solid in Yacht Club’s backline. The final quarter had Casuals on the attack and they were rewarded with a goal from Angus Grant deep into the final period. Casuals’ solid defensive player Jamie O’Brian was instrumental in both restricting Yacht Club’s attack and also setting up key attacking plays. Despite continued pressure from Casuals and several short corners in the final seconds, the score finished 2-1 with Yacht Club taking a well-earned victory. Yacht Club captain Craig Palmer was grateful to play in such a hard-fought game in his final season for the club after both teams were “neck-and-neck all season”. Casuals captain Heiner Schmidt was proud of his team, saying “we brought the game to them and fought until the end”.