Stop Out
2 Wellington Olympic 4
Central
League
Hutt
Park
Saturday
20th August 2016
Attendance
about 400
 |
| Photo : The JourneyFan |
The
champions of the 2016 Central League would be decided today. Going
into today's games there were 3 teams with a chance of claiming the
title. Wellington Olympic had the easiest permutation – Win and it
was theirs. Miramar Rangers had to win and hope Stop Out could beat
or draw with Olympic, while Napier City Rovers had to beat Lower Hutt
City and hope Olympic and Miramar lost.
In the
English Premier League they would call a day like this helicopter Sunday as they would have the trophy in a helicopter ready to fly to
present to the winners. I doubt Capital Football's budget would
extend to a helicopter, instead it was in the back of one of their
cars! (at least they had it, unlike the deciding game for the Women's
Central League last weekend!)
This
game really was the cliché game of 2 half's. In the 1st
ten minutes Olympic had a free kick just outside the area but nothing
came of it but that was about as close as they came. Stop Out on the
other hand were playing like a team that wanted to win the
Championship – even if they couldn't. They opened the scoring in
the 16th minute when Blake Weston bought down Luis
Corrales as he broke into the penalty area. Corrales landed awkwardly
on his arm and had to go off. Blake Weston was very lucky not to be
joining him as it seemed a direct goal scoring opportunity, in the
end the referee didn't even give him a yellow card. Stop Out's Steven Gulley
slotted home the penalty to make it 1-0.
 |
| Steven Gulley makes it 1-0 from the spot Photo : The JourneyFan |
 |
| Andrew Abba makes it 2-0 Photo : The JourneyFan |
The rest
of the half was all Stop Out and Andrew Abba capped off the half with
a nicely taken goal to make it 2-0 at half time. The Olympic fans had
turned up in numbers but must have been wondering why their team
hadn't seemed to turn up. As it stood at half time, Miramar and
Napier were both 2-0 up and the trophy looked to be heading to Dave
Farrington Park.
Only
those in the dressing room will know what Olympic coach, Stu Jacobs
said at half time, but whatever it was it worked. It took Olympic
just 5 minutes to score when Jordan Massuers drove in a low shot from
12 yards out. 2 minutes later it was all square when Kieran Paterson
put the ball in the back of the net. Olympic were fired up and this
was their half, it was their season, and in the 60th
minute they went 3-2 up when Jimmy Haidakis scored a stunning volley.
 |
| Jimmy Haidakis celebrates making it 3-2 Photo : The JourneyFan |
Stop Out
were still attacking and looking dangerous and the game definitely
wasn't won until Patterson got his second when he headed in a cross
from captain Chas Lawrence to make it 4-2 with less than 10 minutes
to go. And that was it Olympic had shown how they deserved to be
champions coming from 2 goals down to win 4-2 and win the Central
League for the 3rd time in their history (1991 & 2010
the previous wins). A great achievement, especially considering when coach Stu Jacobs took over at the start of the season he said this year wasn't so much about winning as consolidation!
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| Wellington Olympic - Central League Champions 2016 Photo : PHOTOMAC |
For Photos from the game click here
For Photos from Olympic's after match celebrations click here
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