I almost didn’t get to the game, as I was an hour away at a meeting at kick-off time. Had traffic been bad, I’d never have made it. What a mistake that would have been.
As it was I arrived with just 10 minutes left in regular time, and Grammar trailing 4-2. Apparently Denny opened the scoring in the first minute, but Westlake had come back with three unanswered goals. Denny also set Rowan up for Grammar’s second goal just before half time, but Westlake had regained the two goal cushion after a soft penalty early in the second half.
With time ticking down it was looking depressingly like a Westlake win. But, as in any close-fought duel, these games usually go to the team that dig’s deepest. And if ever there was a game to play the full 80 minutes, this was the one.
Grammar were frenzied on attack, watching chance after chance repelled by a belligerent Westlake defence. The break-through came with less than 5 minutes on the clock, when Sam took the ball to the goal line and fired a shot across the face where Denny deflected it past the keeper. Denny jogged the ball back to half way, but could they possibly do it again?
The answer was yes. With the ref glancing at his watch for the final whistle, Grammar probed again at the Westlake box. Sam played Justin into the same gap he’d run through a moment earlier, and Justin also found Denny out front, who laid off for Sam. Without no shot on, Sam hunched over the ball, and was taken down in the box, earning a penalty right on the final whistle.
As the game went into overtime, Grammar went into overdrive, and peppered the Westlake goal with free kicks and corners. It seemed like only a matter of time before someone got a shot on goal. That someone was Denny, who stepped up for a well-earned Free-Kick after drawing a defender into a tackle, and laying on an elegant swan dive in the process. The subsequent free kick looped up over the keeper, dropping into the vacant back corner.
That goal proved to be decisive, as Grammar advanced to the semi-final round.
Watch highlights of the final minutes here:
Final Score: Grammar (5) – Westlake (4)
AGS Goals: Denny Twigg (3), Rowan Corbett, Hugo Kidd
AGS Assists: Sam Twigg (2), Justin Bailey, Denny Twigg
