It was Cup Finals day for the Highlands Soccer Association competition and it saw all Cup Finals at David Wood.
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Concurrently the usual rounds of play occurred for the junior competitions which added yet another ball to juggle for committees, coaches and parents.
For the Robertson-Burrawang Rovers the day kicked off extra early so that those involved in Cup Finals could set up their home grounds, get play underway, transfer junior players to stand in coaches and then dash to David Wood in time for the first of our three Cup Finals.
Our President Damien Plain was on duty for the first Cup match at 8.30am - the U15s Jan Plain Cup which is named for his mother.
Photos: Sports gallery for June 29-30
The match between Moss Vale and Yerrinbool was well contested, with Moss Vale prevailing 3-0.
Damien presented the Cup and player medallions along with our Player of the Match award that went to Moss Vale's goalkeeper Troy Wills for his excellent efforts throughout the match to keep a clean sheet.
The Gold ladies team met Mittagong Green in the Chris Jacobs Cup final at the early kick off time of 10.30am. As defending champions we were keen but the earlier than usual time slot proved a challenge and we just couldn't make the attacking plays count and weren't quite on the ball in defence.
Mittagong on the other hand were ready to go and made it count with good goals in each half, taking out the title 2-0 to get their hands on the Cup.
The Maroon men were up next in the George Auld Cup against Yerrinbool Green. It was a strongly contested match with players from both teams putting in big efforts. Yerrinbool lost a player to a red card late in the first half but still managed to compete well, ultimately only going down 5-4.
It was an exciting match to watch and we commend our players for their efforts and maintaining calm to come away with the win.
The Maroon ladies rounded off the day with a fitting finale, going to extra time and then penalties when the score remained at nil all to decide who would take the Noelene Munro Cup home. Both goalkeepers are to be commended for their efforts during the shoot out with both making good saves to keep their team in the running.
Ultimately our Maroon ladies took the Cup with a 3-2 penalty count when our fifth shooter Jemma Coulter calmly shot the ball into the back of the net. With the result undecided until the very last penalty taker it was a good representation of the efforts made by both teams during the close fought match.
Whilst the senior teams were busy at Cup Finals our junior matches were occurring mainly at home at Hampden Park.
Our Under 12s team travelled to Exeter, scraping in for a 1 all draw when Riley Wallace pounced and put the ball into the back of the net late in the game.
The Under 13s team were also away from home, playing Moss Vale at Church Road. Things didn't quite go their way and they were unlucky to miss a draw, instead going down 5 - 3.
Duke Garske got another double and Beau Johansen has found a love of scoring, adding another one to his tally. Thanks to Damien Plain for stepping in as coach between the U15s Cup and his Maroon ladies Cup so that the usual coach and manager could play in their own Cup Final for the gold ladies.
Our Under 15s team met Mittagong at home at Hampden Park and came away with a nice 3-2 win along with the honour of packing up the fields, which usually occurs long after they have left the field. The goal scorers were Ethan Shobrook, Sam Smith and Noah Mackechnie.
Thanks to their coach Rob Handley for co-ordinating pack up whilst the usual suspects were on Cup duty. Thanks also to Noah's dad for refereeing the match. With so many match officials committed all over the Highlands it's comforting to know we have a number of people willing to help out in this regard.
So the 2019 Cups are done and dusted. We were hoping for a hat trick, but like they say - two out of three ain't bad.
Go Robbo!
