Grade 12 Metropolitan Representative Final: Sutherland pay the penalty against Eastern Suburbs

Eastern Suburbs were unable to contain the mobility of Sutherland, yet in the first minute could count themselves unlucky not be ahead when Liam Preston shot just wide but from then on it was all Sutherland for much of the half.
Blake Curry headed narrowly wide for Sutherland as Dominic Soffe enjoyed plenty of freedom down the Eastern Suburbs left flank and was able to express his skills almost at will as the opposition struggled to get to rips with his pace and tricky manner.
Jayden Fraser was next to show for Sutherland when spinning on the edge of the box and unleashing a shot that went narrowly wide.
Indeed, Eastern Suburbs were forced to soak up the pressure and hung on grimly with only sporadic forays forward on the break. One almost resulted in their taking the lead against the run of play when Daniel Arzani weaved through the defence and let fly a right-footed shot that forced custodian Rohan Limebeer into a full length save to his left to palm the ball around the post.
Sutherland continued to push on with a series of missed chances when firstly Blake Currey lifted a shot over the bar, followed by the same player again curling a shot that was sneaking in under the bar until a last second intervention from goalkeeper Zachary Smith was just able to reach.
Easts showed plenty of determination and fought back bravely to get themselves into the tie and when Arzani floated in a free-kick to be met by the head of Conor Quilligan, it only just slid over the bar although they wouldn?t be denied for much longer.
2? minutes later, another Arzani free-kick into the box looked to be covered by Limebeer but the driving rain made the ball slippery and when he spilt it, Quilligan was on hand to stab it home to give Easts a definite goal against the run of play to date.
Sutherland went into the break a goal behind but they rectified that very soon after the resumption when Patrick Tegg sent over a shot-cum-cross that was held by the Easts goalkeeper, who then appeared to collide with the post and drop the ball over the line to restore parity to the game.
As unbelievable as it seems, the weather took on monsoon proportions that effectively negated all the hard work both sides put in but did lead to Puflett being shown a yellow card for mistiming a tackle in the rapidly deteriorating conditions.
With no further addition to the score the game headed into Golden Goal extra-time of 10-minutes each way.
Sutherland kicked off and again Eastern Suburbs were forced to soak up the pressure and hit on the break, not by choice.
They thought they had won the game when awarded a free-kick that found the back of the net only to be disallowed as referee Steven Baskett clearly indicated to wait for the whistle but eagerness got the better of them and they took it too quickly.
Patrick Tegg forced another save out of Easts on the goal-line before they replaced the goalkeeper with outfielder Jordan Makridopolus and his time was to come as no further addition to the scoreboard meant the lottery of a penalty shoot-out would decide 2011 Subway Metropolitan Representative Grade 12 Grand Final.
The remaining games of the day were postponed as the rain showed no signs of letting up and in these conditions the penalty shoot-out went ahead with terrific saves by the goalkeepers, and the crossbar, all but giving Eastern Suburbs victory that was eventually sealed by 2 goals to 4 as Quilligan netted the final Easts spot kick.
Sutherland were not to be crowned the Champion Team after this game but most certainly they were a team of champions, as were all the participants on a bitterly cold day of almost continual torrential downpours and for the outstanding level of skill displayed in terribly adverse conditions.
Metropolitan Representative State League Two Grand Final Grade 12
Bensons Lane, Hawkesbury
Sutherland 1 (Tegg 27?)
Eastern Suburbs 1 (Quilligan 25?)
Referee: Steven Baskett
Assistant Referees: Terry Coady and Jacob Coady
Sutherland: 1. Rohan Limebeer, 2.Blake Currey, 3.Aaron Desbruslais, 4.Jacob Long, 5.Jayden Fraser, 6.Kade Kinsella, 7.Dylan Lamour, 8.Daniel Maras, 9.Jed McStravick, 10.Thomas Nunn, 11.Cayne Ross, 12.Dominic Soffe, 13.Patrick Tegg, 14.Peter Turrall, 16.Thomas Woerndl
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Coach: Stuart Blake
Assistant Coach: Dragan Blazevic
Manager: Darrin Currey
Eastern Suburbs: 1.Rueben McDonald, 2.Jarrad Kadar, 3.Conor Quilligan, 4.William Todd, 5.Jordan Kery, 6.Michael Papatheodorakis, 7.Mitchell Knight, 9.Jordan Makridopolus, 10.Liam Preston, 11.Christian Suvak, 12.Zacharay Smith, 13.O Purflett, 14.Ran Marcovich, 15.Asha Phillips, 16.Daniel Arzani, 17.B McAlary
Yellow Cards: Purflett 40?
Red Cards: Nil
Coach: Ross O?Sullivan
Assistant Coach: Con Kerry
Manager: John Knight
-By Micky Brock