The best of Australian Paralympic 7-A-Side Football players have assembled at Coffs Harbour to participate in the 11th National Paralympic 7-A-Side Football Championships. New South Wales will be attempting to defend their 2013 title and they hope to win their 10th title.
Day 1 - Match 1 – QLD vs Victoria
This was an excellent match to start the tournament as both sides fought hard to try and get on top of each other from the very start. It appeared like a game of chess as they both tried different moves and both had their chances early on. It was only some excellent goalkeeping from Jamie Paulsen (QLD) and Christian Tsangas (VIC) that denied each team.
The winner unfortunately came in the last minute of the goal when a miss kick from the Victoria defender saw the ball go into the back of his own goal.
Final Score – Queensland (1) def Victoria (0)
Referee – Matthew McOrist
Day 1 – Match 2 – NSW vs South Australia
NSW came out with all guns blazing in this match with 5 current PARAROOS starting the match for NSW. It wasn’t long before they were on the ball through an excellent goal to Ben Atkins. The experience of the NSW team was obvious as they scored three more times in the first half.
Ian Menzies the head coach of NSW then bought all of the new young players for NSW on for the second half and it was soon obvious that they have a huge depth of players and they lost nothing by having these young inexperienced players on. They scored another 4 goals during the second half.
Final Score – NSW (8) def South Australia (0)
Scorers for NSW – Connor Marsh (2), Matthew Hearne, Jack Williams, Chris Pyne, Granit Haliti, Ben Atkins, Shaun McCann.
Referee – Andrew Kite
Day 2 – Match 3 – NSW vs Victoria
Once again the NSW team came out firing against a determined Victorian team. NSW opened the scoring about 10 minutes into the first half. It was only the goalkeeping of Christian Tsangas that kept NSW to two goals in the first half.
The second half saw the young guns of NSW come on again and dominate. The scored another 4 goals before the gallant Victorian scored a well-deserved goal through Cameron Gudgeon.
Final Score: NSW (6) defeated Victoria (1)
NSW Scorers: Harrison Dowdell (2), Connor Marsh, Jack Williams, Brett Fairhall, Ben Sutton
VIC Scorers: Cameron Gudgeon
Day 2 – Match 4 – Western Australia vs South Australia
This was another very close match between two very even sides and it ended up being on a single goal between the two sides.
Thomas Goodman scored for the South Australians midway through the second half.
Final Score: South Australia (1) def Western Australia (0)
SA Scorer: Thomas Goodman
Day 3 - Match 7 – QLD vs Western Australia
Once again this was a very tight affair as a 7 man Queensland team took on a full strength Western Australia team due to the suspension of the Queensland Captain. It was an arm wrestle from the very start of the match.
It took a single moment of brilliance by Robbie Christie late into the second half to break the deadlock between the two teams.
Final Score – Queensland (1) def Western Australia (0)
QLD Scorer: Robbie Christie
Day 3 – Match 8 – South Australia vs Victoria
South Australia took an early lead in the 15 th minute of the game due to a goal from PARAROOS player Thomas Goodman. They continued to press the Victorian’s but were not able to increase their lead any further during the first half.
With on 3 minutes on the clock into the second half Thomas Goodman doubled his goals for the match when he slipped another one past the Victorian keeper. This was soon followed up by another goal to South Australia in the 44 th minute when James Von Stanke got his first goal of the tournament.
South Australia looked home at this stage leading 3 – Nil but more action was to come as Victoria scored in the 53 rd and 55 th minute with goals to Ben Roche and Cameron Gudgeon. This made for a great last 5 minutes as the Victorian’s tried valiantly to get the equaliser. Unfortunately the time ran out on the clock for them.
Final Score: South Australia 3 def Western Australia 2
SA Scorers: Thomas Goodman (2), James Von Stanke
WA Scorers: Ben Roche, Cameron Gudgeon
Day 3 – Match 9 – Western Australia vs New South Wales
This was a dead match for the NSW team as they had already qualified for the gold medal match. So they put all of the young players on the field whilst leaving the experienced PARAROOS on the bench. The young players did NSW proud as they held their own against a very determined and well-structured Western Australia team. They went into the half time break with a Nil All Score line.
The second half saw the introduction of a couple of the PARAROOS players and it instantly proved the difference as one of the young guns James Hunt then finished off an excellent move to score the only goal of the match.
The Western Australian team did themselves proud throughout the tournament as they had not conceded more than a single goal in all 4 of their matches.
Final Score: NSW (1) def Western Australia (0)
NSW Scorer: James Hunt
Day 3 – Match 10 – Queensland vs South Australia
What a way to finish the rounds of the tournament as the winner of this match would go on to meet NSW in the gold medal match.
The first half was the true tussle you would have expected for two teams trying to make the final. No inch was given by either side and there was some hefty clashes between the two teams.
It wasn’t until the 36 th minute that the deadlock was broken through a goal to Queensland’s Robbie Christie. QLD then doubled their lead in the 45 th minute with a goal to Jarrod Larkins-Law. From there you could see the South Australian team were spent and they conceded another 3 goals in the last 5 minutes.
Final Score: Queensland 5 def South Australia (0)
QLD Scorer: Robbie Christie (2), Jarrod Larkins-Law (2), Angus McGregor
The final table after the 10 matches was:
|
Team |
Played |
Win |
Draw |
Loss |
For |
Against |
Points |
Goal Diff |
|
New South Wales |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
1 |
12 |
15 |
|
Queensland |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
9 |
6 |
|
South Australia |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
15 |
6 |
-11 |
|
Victoria |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
9 |
3 |
-5 |
|
Western Australia |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
-4 |
The finals will be between the following teams:
Bronze Medal Match South Australia vs Victoria
Gold Medal Match New South Wales vs Queensland