Old Paradians defeated the Hampton Rovers by 13 points in the final round of the home and away season at Boss James Reserve on Saturday. The win sees Parade cement their spot in the finals, while for the Rovers, it completes a frustrating year on the ground in which injuries have taken their toll.
The Rovers managed a further 4 goals in the second quarter while Parade posted 5 to go in at the main break holding a 6 point advantage.
The game was certainly a close one and this continued in the third quarter. Both sides kicked a further 2 goals each however more scoring shots to the Rovers meant the margin was only 3 behinds at the final break.
This was it – the final 30 minutes of football for the 2005 season, and the Rovers were eager to close the season in style with a win in front of their home crowd. Unfortunately it was the same story as previous weeks with the Rovers running out of legs in the final term and handing the game to the opposition.
At one stage, Old Paradians held quite a hefty lead, however to the Rovers credit, they finished the game strongly kicking 3 goals in quick succession to bring the final margin back to just 13 points.
Adam Power had another good day up front kicking 5 goals for the green and golds with the other multiple goal scorer Mark Devereaux with 2. James McCarthy, Stuart Burggraaff and Michael Fletcher all played well for the Rovers.
Its certainly been a tough season for the Hampton Rovers in 2005. The club has been cursed with injuries with up to 24 players unavailable for pretty much the second half of the year, including 7 or 8 regular senior players. However to their credit, the selected side on the day has given it their all, with the Rovers taking the game right up to their opponents on most occasions.
The club can now look forward to a much improved 2006 season, with the group sticking together and the continued improvement of younger blood.
In a tight final round in C section in which there were many possible outcomes, University Blacks went down to Old Camberwell however still finished on top, Beaumaris accounted for Banyule finishing in 2nd, with Old Paradians and Old Camberwell rounding out the top 4.
Old Paradians: 3.4, 8.7, 10.10, 16.11 (107)
Best: McCarthy, Burggraaff, Fletcher, Browne, Power,
Goals: Power 5, Devereaux 2, Andersen, Duddy, Fletcher, Holt, Tregear, Zampaglione.
The Reserves also haven?t had the best of years with the injury situation flowing through to the 2004 premiers. However they finished the season in style with a thrilling one goal victory over 4th-placed Parade. Rovers lead for the majority of the game, however Old Paradians levelled the scores with just minutes remaining. A superb passage of play then resulted in a running Nick Pinto goal to give the home side a 6-point win.
Adam Crowther, Steve Seletto and Nick Pinto were best on ground for the Rovers with
The Under 19s were also at home for the final round of the season, however due to a ground clash, their game was moved to Spring Street Reserve in
They finish the season in 4th position and take on Salesian Scorpians in the 1st Semi Final Sunday at Gerry Green Reserve (