League

Yalpunga Park
Spectators: 5000 (Terracing: 4000, Seating: 1000, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Tiger Vickery started the match with the kick off. Barth Merz blasted a shot towards the goal in the 9th minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Paul Tresise having to make a save. Davey Maslin took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Grant Mcmillan, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. If Tiger Vickery had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 20th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Barth Merz fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 26th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Paul Tresise having to interfere. Benedict Connell hit a great freekick 27 minutes into the match. Hopevale's Tiger Vickery got a good chance for a goal in the 30th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. After 36 played minutes Yalpunga got a freekick which was hit by Bryden Schutt. After a rather tough play, Hopevale's Rolando Ritter got a free kick in the 40th minute. Davey Maslin made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Grant Mcmillan in the 42nd minute of play. If Buck Fordham had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 43rd minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. The fans had the chance to grab some refreshments as the whistle went for half-time. The score stood at 0-0 after a close first half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Grant Mcmillan to make the kick off. After a defensive mix-up in Hopevale's zone, Buck Fordham stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Davey Maslin came out of the goal and Buck Fordham tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. When Buck Fordham came up free with the goalie in the 55th minute, the Yalpunga fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Buck Fordham couldn't finish the play. Davey Maslin showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Grant Mcmillan, who was totally free with the ball in the 66th minute. After having played for 70 minutes, Grant Mcmillan managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Yalpunga's supporters crossed their fingers, but Grant Mcmillan was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. In the 74th minute Tiger Vickery shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Paul Tresise saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Paul Tresise stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Tiger Vickery's shot from short distance in the 85th minute. Hopevale's Davey Maslin played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Grant Mcmillan in the 87th minute of play. Buck Fordham received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 91st minute. Davey Maslin tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. The audience was convinced that Buck Fordham's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Davey Maslin was relentless in the 94th minute of the game. The Hopevale players were the happier at the end of the match as they had prevented Yalpunga from taking control. The game ends in a draw.