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YOUNG GUNS TOO GOOD FOR MASTERS OLD BOYS
Venue: Tompkins Park, Alfred Cove; 2.00pm Conditions: Fine Perth Saints Social Premier Half Time: Scorers: B Hartnoll 11' F Houston OG 58' Bookings: None Max Spooner
Perth Saints Social produced their first normal time victory over the Masters Premier side to record their second consecutive Deaks Cup triumph on Sunday.
Both sides had significantly strengthened their squads for the 2006 season by welcoming a host of new players in what was an entertaining match at Tompkins Park .
Coming on the back of a penalty shootout triumph the last time the two sides met, the young guns were further boosted by the victory of the Social Division Two side in the earlier Jerusalem Hollow Cup and went into the game confident of a good showing.
The Masters had most of their stars in attendance, led by flicka Lowe in the middle of the park, who caused problems for the Saints all match with his movement and superb touch and vision.
The young guns had a full complement of players and used the bench frequently to rest players as they started the better in the first ten minutes.
And the first goal duly arrived from the boot of the in-form Bren Hartnoll, who took a delightful pass from David Murray after good work from Franky Ferreira, beat his defender and hit a left foot shot that took a slight deflection over the keeper and into the net.
It was a dream start for the Saints, but they began to waste some good build up play with a poor final ball as the experienced Masters began to get a hold of the game.
James Tsakiris was looking lively on the right and linked well with Kenny Lowe on numerous occasions to cause the young guns all sorts of problems.
The Masters forced a succession of corners that the young guns did well to scramble away as Tsakiris cut through the defence and should have scored but for an Alex Vaughan save with his legs from a tight angle.
Vaughan produced another good save from Kenny Lowe, who was becoming instrumental in the middle, as the Masters began to try their luck from range after some stubborn defending from the young guns.
But the score should have been 2-0 after Sean Morgan latched onto a counter attacking move and had only Frank Houston to beat in the penalty box but Houston came out on top and cleared the ball to safety.
A fair size crowd had built up for the second half as the youngsters lifted a notch and the tired legs of the Masters began to make mistakes.
Frank Houston was kept busy making a string of saves as it looked as though the Socials had left their shooting boots at home.
It took a howler from Frank Houston to give the young guns a two-nil lead, Gareth Cox-Martin showing some skill near the left corner flag to beat his marker and cross low and hard from the by-line where Houston could only knock the ball into his own net, an almost identical blunder to that of Robert Zabica in last years Deaks Cup.
Renaud Clausse was beginning to be a key figure for the young guns in the middle of the park, rattling the cross bar from 18 yards with a vicious strike then having a goal disallowed after a dubious decision on the right touchline as Franky Ferreira appeared to keep the ball in play.
This seemed to be the spur the old boys needed as they tried to find a way through the youngsters defence, with a number of dangerous crosses threatening Vaughan ’s clean sheet.
But on 74 minutes Sean Morgan gifted the Masters a goal to put life back into the game after losing the ball in his own penalty box.
With an attacker hard on his heels, Morgan attempted to twist and turn his way out of trouble but lost the ball which soon found its way into the back of the net after a great shot from Sean Gibbs that curled over Vaughan .
But the young guns held out for a deserved 2-1 win, their first in regular time against the old boys, and once again held onto the Deaks Cup for another six months to cap a wonderful day for the two Social squads.
Youth 2 – Experience 0
3 April, 2006
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© 2006 Perth Saints Football Club
