The Young Lions capped off a rollercoaster season with a dominant 3-1 victory over South Wagga in the Football Wagga Pascoe Plate grand final on Saturday night.
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The Lions were able to dictate play from the start of the match, with the midfield trio of Duncan Cameron, Calum McCaffery and Brant Taylor forcing turnovers from South Wagga and creating gaps for both Nathan Hislop and Landon Boldrini to attack out wide.
There were a number of half chances early on, however the first real opportunity fell to the home side, with South Wagga’s Bai Fahnbulleh forcing a terrific reflex save from Lions goalkeeper Mat McKnight.
This save proved crucial for the Lions, as shortly after an attack down the right side saw a cross from right back Chris Kerr find Boldrini at the top of the box, who was able to control and send a low right foot drive though a crowded penalty area and into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.
The Lions doubled their lead shortly before half-time when a powerful Duncan Cameron free kick wasn’t controlled by the South Wagga goalkeeper and Jackeb Raad was the quickest to react and tap the ball into the back of the net from close range.
In the second half, the Lions continued to search for more goals instead of protecting their two goal lead and Raad was able to get his second of the match mid-way through the half.
Raad drifted back into the midfield from his position in the front line and after setting himself with a couple of touches, sent a lofted shot from 30 yards which the South Wagga goalkeeper could only get a flailing hand to as it sailed into the back of the net.
South Wagga pulled one back from Fahnbulleh with 15 minutes to go but it was too little too late as the Lions backline of Frazer Burns, Cameron Jones, David Brouwer and Kerr held strong.
Interchange players Shaun Rolfe, Pete Mulquiney, Jarod Schiller and Jordan Callaghan provided valuable support and fresh legs in the second half against a tiring South Wagga outfit.
Burns was named Man of the Match by the Football Wagga officials for his tireless work rate at left back in which he dominated his much bigger South Wagga opponent.
Lions coach Mark Mellish was understandably pleased at the result which came at the end of a frustrating season.
“This was probably the best team performance we have had all year,” Mellish said.
“We had to shuffle our forward line around after Caylum Barber’s injury against Tolland but Jackeb shifted to centre forward and Landon came in on the right and did exactly what was needed.
“However it was really a whole team effort – our defensive end shut down South Wagga and this enabled our midfield and forwards to create the openings.
“Landon’s goal was nicely taken and Jackeb’s two goals were both things that we worked on at training – the first one was really just a simple move from the free kick while the second was a result of me wanting him to drop back into the midfield and create openings – the decision to shoot was not something I had worked on but full credit to him for being prepared to chance his arm, as those types of actions can turn a game.
“I am just really happy for everyone associated with the club that we could bring home a trophy in our maiden Football Wagga season and hopefully the Lions can go onto bigger and better things next year,” Mellish said.