Under-12 Border Raiders vs Castlemaine Gold
The Border Raiders hosted Castlemaine Gold in overcast conditions on Saturday for a spot in the grand final. Both teams understood what was at stake and a tight opening 10 minutes had the crowd on the edge of their seats.
It was Castlemaine who were first on the scoreboard, with some great team play and hard running. This Castlemaine goal lit a fuse for the Border Raiders and they quickly responded with a goal of their own from Nate Murphy.
Jack Gibson and Alex Attlah worked overtime in the midfield and pressed hard to create opportunities for the forwards. Then Ben Anthony struck from close range and the Raiders were on the charge.
Xavier Stewart and Daniel Barry impressed down back, keeping calm on the ball and working in tandem with the hard-running Billy Quirk who made some flashing runs down the wing.
Edik Jegan and Oscar Dawson stood strong in their defensive midfielder roles, denying Castlemaine any chances of an equaliser. Raiders goalkeeper Jack Dunne was amazing, stopping all balls coming his way and sending the ball deep into attack to give the forwards first use of the ball.
When Matty Maxwell put one in the back of the net just before half-time, the Raiders entered the break full of confidence with a 3-1 lead.
But Castlemaine had not given up and came out in the second half fighting hard. Big Finn Murphy was a general in defence all day, directing traffic and ensuring the Raiders held their lead.
Castlemaine would not lay down and found the back of the net deep into the second half and the game was in the balance. Up stepped Tommy Quirk, who with only minutes remaining in the game, whipped a corner ball into the area to find the head of Nate Murphy and the Raiders broke out into mad celebrations.
At the final whistle the Raiders were ahead 4-2 and they will now be playing off in the grand final on Saturday at Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve.
Under-16 Border Raiders vs Golden City / Eaglehawk
Our Border Raiders entered their preliminary final in Bendigo full of confidence after stringing together strong performances in their past couple of outings.
Straight from kick-off there was plenty of promise as Jye Dos Santos, Asha Davies and Seb Jouault-Thomas pressed early, causing headaches for the Golden City opponents.
However, Golden City quickly settled and took control of the game, scoring in the fifth minute. Defenders Matt Whyte, Charlie Mundie, Aiden Bruffell and Mason Bayley were constantly thwarting attacks, while Blade Bawden in goals was under immense pressure. At half-time we were 3-0 down.
A half-time rev up from coach Darryl Brown sparked some unreal pressure from Lottie Pickles, Brydie Davidson, Marco Maxwell, Brayden Hull and Paddy Barry provided opportunities up front, but unfortunately the Raiders were unable to capitalise on the good work. The Border Raiders eventually went down down 5-0.
Congratulations to all members of the team and coaching staff on such a successful season.
– reports contributed by Moama Echuca Border Raiders