10th May 2003
City has regained the Froccer Cup with a solid 3-0 win over Scarboro in a fast, furious and fashionable match on the weekend.
There was a lot at stake for the City team as Scarboro tried for three in a row. In the end it was the City blend of youth and experience that prevailed.
For the uninitiated Froccer, as the name suggests, is soccer while wearing a frock!
City abandoned the unsuccessful 2002 experiment of having a training session, opting instead for a team briefing/rope in more more players session at the club bar at the Awards Night the evening before the match.
Coach Todd Pearson got the team fired up, fortunately without any Wayne Gretzky stories this year.
The day was perfect for elite sport, with clear blue skies and the pitch in perfect condition.
After the National Anthem and a quick briefing from the ref (who was strangely keen to actually have rules in place), the coin was tossed by City's Greg Tate (for reasons which I've forgotten). Scarboro won the toss and elected to kick towards the eastern end of the ground. Somehow they also got first possession of the ball - I always thought it was one or the other myself.
The match was played in four fifteen minute quarters, reduced from the twenty minute quarters of 2002, for which the older members of the team were very thankful. As always the early pace was furious, but there weren't may real goal-scoring opportunities. The best chance of the first quarter came when Wright and Wright of Scarboro took on City 'keeper Jeff Scott two-on-one. After a bit of desperate scrambling the ball was cleared off the goal-line by Tim McCabe (despite some premature celebration from members of the Scarboro team), and there was no score at quarter time.
Coach Todd Pearson implemented the Chris Connolly "rotate every 30 seconds" method at quarter time (fortunately it was our home game). With plenty on the bench, the aim was to keep fresh legs on the pitch. Todd probably has some other good game plan stuff as well, even if he did appear to be making it up as he went along.
A few minutes into the second quarter the deadlock was finally broken. A City attack resulted in a mad scramble in the goal mouth and the ball was finally knocked through by Damien England to take a 1-0 lead.
Scarboro couter-attacked immediately, looking for the quick equaliser, but the City backline of Anthony Langdon and Ash Nesbit held firm and weathered the storm.
City pushed forward again, and earned a penalty. I didn't see what it was for, but no doubt it was some piece of blatant cheating from the Scarboro team.
We came into this game with a 100% record in penalties - not once in history has City scored from the spot. After much debate over who should take the kick Blair Trew stepped up and preserved the record, kicking the ball straight into the hands of Scarboro goalkeeper John Snook.
1-0 was the half time score. Todd's half time talk can't have been too special because I don't remember much of it. There was something about the goalkeeper kicking long every time, and attacking down the right hand side. The biggest concern was that no-one remembered to bring the oranges this year.
The third quarter saw the rotation policy start to pay off as the older legs got tired, and it was froccer debutant Luke Tidey who was there to put home City's second goal.
But the highlight of the quarter for many was Jono Stock having the ball drilled into him at close range while still on the ground from the previous tackle. Following his second quarter effort of kicking the ball into his own face, it showed why Jono probably won't be sought out for any overseas contracts in the near future.
Two goals down with a quarter to play, Scarboro went all out in the last fifteen minutes. But the game was all over when Greg Tate took the ball out on the right and put it across the face into the top left corner of the net in what was undoubtedly the most sensational goal ever scored in the history of Froccer.
With only pride to play for, Scarboro kept on coming. But some great goal work from Jason Wright kept a clean sheet for City.
In the after match presentations, Luke Tidey was awarded the Colin Braund Medal for best on ground.
| City | 3 | (D.England 19m, L.Tidey 37m, G.Tate 50m) | |
| Scarboro | 0 |
Cup History
| Year | Winner | ||
| 1999 | City | ||
| 2000 | City | ||
| 2001 | Scarboro | ||
| 2002 | Scarboro | ||
| 2003 | City |
Another Match Report - I don't know who wrote this, if it was you let me know so I can credit you!
Leave your congratulations for the team on the Message Board
If you have good photos from the match, email me and I'll put them on here.
