The boys responded quickly with some solid work from Tana Bvirakare and Josh Milicevic leading to a crisply finished goal from Will Ness. 1all! Unfortunately worse was to come as mistakes from the JPC team and some snappy interplay from Radford led to the conceding of not one but two more goals on the counter. Although dominating possession and the physical contest, JPC went into half-time 3-1 down with confidence shaken and heads trending down…

After a soul-searching half time and an inspiring few words from captain Jo Boccuzzo, JPC responded with a few tactical changes and a renewed vigour in the second half. As the weight of possession built up, JPC had numerous close chances, eventually one flew to striker Tobias Robson and he slotted it in to make it 3-2. JPC continued to press with the backline led by Noah Hewitt, Harry Rowley and Conor Moir holding strong and solid midfield work from Ani, Tana, Charlie and Riley.

With time running out and around 10 minutes left JPC received a free kick within shooting distance… The crowd responded with cries of ecstasy as Josh M beat the keeper, hitting first the bar and then the goal-line in what seemed to be a clear goal before the ball was collected by the Radford keeper. Unfortunately, both the referee and the (neutral) Assistant Referee disagreed and disallowed the goal…

The boys responded with great maturity and composure as the clock ticked down ever closer to full-time, dominating possession and pressuring the Radford goal – eventually, the pressure told with Toby picking up his second goal after some fast work from Pat Rowley and a lot of pressure from Toby. JPC had equalised with under 2 minutes to spare and even had a chance to win the game in the closing moments.

The boys had forced extra time in an amazingly courageous effort. Extra time was ‘golden goal,’ the first to score would win the game. It was clear that the boys were on top and Radford heads were down – with choruses of ‘don’t force it’ from the bench, JPC kept up the attack and was rewarded with what was seemingly the game winning penalty. Unfortunately more drama was to come as the Radford keeper pulled off a tremendous save and JPC celebrations were again thwarted! With only a couple of minutes left again the boys finally prevailed over Radford with Toby grabbing a well-deserved hat-trick and celebrations for players, coaches and the crowd as JPC ended the game 4-3 up! Well played to the Radford team for a great match.

Next stop is a game v either Mulwaree (Goulburn) or Bateman’s Bay…

Congratulations to all the team (Gabe Taurasi (GK), Edan Pfeffier, Charlie Rae, Riley Borthwick, Noah Hewitt, Pat Rowley, Harry Rowley, Josh Milisevic, Tana Bvirakire, Tobias Robson, Jo Boccuzzo (c), Kamil Bah, Conor Moir, Anakin Mijoc, Will Ness) for playing well, showing courage and never giving up! Thanks to Miss G for her excellent soccer support.

Matt Caldow
Bill Turner Cup Coach