On Sunday the 20th of June 2010, Metro’s Div 2 side played our first game as defending Cup champions in the 2010 season. After a bye in the first round of the Cup, and having enjoyed a five game winning streak in the league competition, Div 2 faced the tough Western Toros at their home ground, in what was to become a thrilling encounter.

The game began with a stirring speech by Coach Leo, urging us to take the game on from the very start. Unfortunately, an uncharacteristic error in defence saw us score an own goal after less than five minutes.

However, our Div 2 side are no strangers to coming back from a 1-0 deficit in major cup games, and were to put everything into gaining the lead back. On cue, in stepped Dingy. After a rebound in the penalty area, Dingy ran onto the ball and the Toro’s keeper came from behind and took her legs out, giving us a penalty. Dingy, our designated penalty striker, struck the ball into the top netting, only just beating the keeper to score!

With the game at 1-1 and our girls having warmed into the game, Metro began passing the ball around and defending solidly, It wasn’t long until Mary had the ball on the wing, crossed it into a fired up Dingy, who struck the ball into the back of the net for our second goal.

Just when Metro was confident to take a 2-1 lead into half time, Toro’s started passing through their midfield and a nicely placed through ball and run from their striker landed in the back of the net to set up a 2-2 half time score.

With another motivating speech at half time, we started to use our wings effectively in the second half, crossing the ball in and passing to our strikers. A defining moment came when Katy was elbowed harshly in the box and won our second penalty of the game. Dingy took the kick and perfectly struck the ball into the bottom right corner to score her hattrick and put Metro in the lead at 3-2.

The game was certainly not over at this stage, and soon after the Toros struck from outside the box and scored a classy goal that flew over Ally’s head and gave her no chance to save. At 3-3, the game was in the balance.

After winning a corner, Katy kicked the ball high into the penalty box. After I ran back to get the ball and short- passed to Mary, Mary crossed perfectly to Dingy, and amazingly Dingy struck the ball hard into the back of the net to score her fourth goal.

Our girls had a 4-3 lead with 10 minutes to go and we all pushed back to defend, Ally was forced to make several saves including a classy dive to stop the ball going past her left post. With the final whistle about to blow, Captain Sophie was stunned when the referee called a penalty against her after their player went down in the box.

In the last seconds of the game, and with our players and crowd holding their breath, the Toros player lined up for the penalty, went back, and hit the cross bar! The ball flew back out, was hit lightly by the Toros and landed safely in Ally’s arms when the final whistle went!

After a dramatic game, our girls managed to get an amazing 4-3 win and go through to the third round of the Cup. It was a great effort by all to come back and hold on. Finally, a big thank you must go to the Football Gods.

Nancy Belperio
#13

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