Coach Adrian Kumar had to admit he’s been lucky with who he’s been able to work with at the Echuca-Moama Border Raiders.
Last year, Kumar led the under-12s to a grand final win. Last week, his under-16s got the job done against Strathdale.
“This year was tough because most of the players got injured,” he said.
“But I told them in the changing room, ‘We have reached this far, I think we can do more than this. Let's go home with smiling faces’, and I think that message kicked in.”
The Border Raiders won 5-4, a crazy encounter seeing them up 4-3 at half-time after being behind twice.
If that wasn’t enough, the game also had to be rescheduled to last Wednesday night.
Initially played on Saturday, September 19, the match was abandoned after Echuca-Moama’s Nitish Gounder broke his arm.
The waiting time for an ambulance led to the rescheduling, as several other grand finals had to be played.
Kumar would be without Gounder for the second fixture, who he called one of his best.
Winger Milan Matoro was also out, still recovering from a nasty concussion.
Under-16 teams aren’t often hit with so many injuries, and most junior sides struggle without one or two of their game-changers.
“Because two of my best 11 were out I had to make some changes,” Kumar said.
“I was happy with my defence; they were unable to score the last goal.”
The Border Raiders had effectively secured the win in the final five minutes, scoring again to lead 5-3.
But Strathdale halved the deficit with two minutes left and had late chances to equalise.
Echuca-Moama held firm, with Kumar crediting his side for playing right until the end.
“I think that's what made the difference,” he said.
“From the first whistle to the last whistle the boys were all focused and trying to accomplish what we planned.”
The game didn’t go exactly as planned.
Strathdale led twice in the first half, going 1-0 and 2-1 up.
It was the only opponent that beat Echuca-Moama this year, and goals were expected.
The previous scorelines between the sides were 4-4, 5-3, and 4-1.
“Strathdale is a very good side,” Kumar said.
“They had the ball but when we had the ball we created many chances.
“We missed some goals and they missed some goals.
“It was a final you didn’t want to miss.
“We don't often get to see finals like this because so many goals were going in; it was a very different environment and I think everybody enjoyed it.”
One player who certainly enjoyed it was striker Juan Sam.
He won best-on-ground honours after scoring a hat-trick.
“Before the game I said to him, ‘Come on, you've not been performing as expected,’ because in the last three games he didn’t score,” Kumar said.
“So I said, ‘What's happening? You are my scorer,” and then I think something clicked.”
Sam also scored his first senior goal in a 9-1 win over Castlemaine in August.
He, Matoro, Cade Bruffell, and Gounder and his brother, Divish, are players to keep an eye on.
They’ve all spent time training and playing with the senior men this year.
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