
The coming of spring also heralded in a new champion with Green Island clinching the title in emphatic fashion at the home of the reigning champions Mosgiel.
Green Island settled quickly with Matt Brazier bullish up front and 2 typical early driving runs stretched Mosgiels make shift defence. Mosgiels Charlie Gruppelaar suffered an early hamstring injury and whilst he has being attended to the 10 men of Mosgiel settled and started to get the upper hand and with 20 minutes played Lewis Wall and Cam Anderson linked up and Andersons goal bound shot was well saved by the feet of Christian Firth - the rebounded loose ball was rammed home however it was correctly flagged for offside and ruled out.
Mosgiel were not wanting to relinquish their title and 4 minutes later a Kasim Ali pile driver was parried by Firth towards Beckham Wheeler-Greenall and his effort was blocked for a corner. The corner was cleared forward and Green Island won a throw in , the resultant long throw in was chested down by Mosgiels Javier Langley however much to his horror no one was on hand to clear the ball and it dribbled over the line for an own goal on 27minutes.
Mosgiel won a succession of free kicks and in the 33rd minute Anderson swung one in and Rory Findlays glancing header went agonisinly wide.
Green Island were being asked lots of questions and with Blake Porteous at centre back marking Lewis Wall , having a strong defensive game ,and along with the industry of Liam Carrington and Brynn Sinclair were showing why they have remained unbeaten this season.
Mosgiels Wall and Anderson combined well again in the 41st minute and Andersons well struck shot was cleared off the line. The last play of the first half saw a Green Island free kick flicked on by Tom Milton with his goal bound effort well saved by Liam Whittaker.
The opening minutes of the second half started with Mosgiel earning another flurry of free kicks . In the 57th minute Anderson then sent Wall free but his shot was scuffed wide and when a Matt Kelly effort that stung the palms of Firth- Green Island sensed it wasn't going to be Mosgiels day and when their physio rushed onto the pitch to assist an injured Tom Milton without the game stopping - Green Island broke forward and when their shot came back off the post Brazier was on hand to stab in the rebound with 59 minutes played.
Another attacking Mosgiel free kick was cleared and Green Island again broke at pace and Matt Milton scored with aplomb to make the score 3. 0 with still 25 minutes to go. Mosgiel were reduced to 9 men 3 minutes later when both Lewis Wall and Rory Findlay were shown green cards by Referee Jack Henderson .
Blake Porteous continued his strong game by blocking Rahan Alis goal bound shot .
With 10 minutes left Green Islands Eddie Wilkinson - who had been having a quiet game - came into life in devastating fashion with a trade mark burgeoning run that saw him slalom through 4 defenders bursting nto the box and his curled shot was bent past Whittaker to give Green Island an emphatic 4.0 victory and when news came through that Wanaka had beaten University 1.0 courtesy of Barry Grehans 78th minute penalty Green Island were rightly crowned Champions with 3 rounds left to play having not yet dropped a point.
Photos by Adam Binns
Article added: Monday 07 September 2020