Southern Blue Tongues: 2009/10 Victorian Champions League Under 18 Boys Champions
The Southern Blue Tongues have been crowned Victorian Champions League 2009/10 Under 18 Boys Champions after defeating the South East Cougars at Epping Stadium last night.
The Blue Tongues defeated the Cougars 3-0 in a match where both teams had opportunities to score, but it was the Blue Tongues who were able to capitalise.
A vocal crowd turned out for the battle of the Southern “neighbours”, and they weren’t disappointed, with the first goal coming on the 16 minute mark.
After the South East Cougars dominated the first 15 minutes, Southern capitalised on their one opportunity from a skilful dash through the midfield, which saw the ball deflected out by the keeper, only to be put away by David DiIorio.
The ball went from end-to-end over the next 30 minutes as the Cougars tried to level the scores.
However, in the dying seconds of the first half, Ashley Savanah found some space in the middle, dodged a defender before wrong footing keeper, and slotting the ball in the bottom left corner.
Half time scores Southern Blue Tongues 2, South East Cougars 0.
The Cougars got the first crack at goal in the second half, from a looping ball struck out wide; unfortunately it just clipped the crossbar and bounced over the top.
They followed up again with a second shot not long after, that left the keeper scrambling to his right, but luck was on his side as the ball hit the post and deflected to safety.
Although they looked tired, the South East Cougars had plenty of opportunities in the second half, but Southern’s defenders were able to hold them at bay.
Alessandro Paolo Stazio was lively on the wing for the Cougars, forcing a number of attacking opportunities.
The second half clearly belonged to the Cougars but they weren’t seeing the results on the scoreboard.
Southern were waiting for a counter attack to catch the Cougars off guard and they got what they were looking for in the 75th minute when the ball ended up with Savanah again at the top of the box. He turned away from his defender and struck it hard and low to the corner, flying passed the diving keeper for his second goal.
Southern Blue Tongues coach Lou Kastner was very happy with the result and the effort from his players.
“I thought after the first 20 minutes we were always in control,” Kastner said.
“We started a bit apprehensive and we were a bit shaky at the beginning, but once we settled into our pattern of play, we were fine.”
South East Cougars Coach Tom Tsantlogianis said his team had enough of the ball, but just couldn’t convert on the scoreboard.
“We had lots of opportunities in the beginning of the game and unfortunately we didn’t take those opportunities,” Tsantlogianis said.
“Credit to the Blue Tongues though, they basically wore us down, they converted their opportunities much better than what we did, and it was basically a game of trying to catch up in the end and unfortunately we didn’t have the time.”
Last updated: Monday December 21, 2009 12:44PM
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