Old Salesians 2 - 1 Old Parkonians (Southern Amateur League)

The last fixture of the season took Old Parks to the champions elect of the SAL Division 2, Old Salesians on Saturday. Salesians had to take just a point from the fixture to be guaranteed the Division 2 title, but ended up taking all three.

Parks started up the slope and into the wind and soon were chasing the home side, as Salesians dominated the opening exchanges, getting the ball down and playing with the confidence that comes with guaranteed promotion. Parks, however, stuck gamely to their task and worked very hard throughout the side. Bernstein and Kenny were exceptional in defence, and Nicholls marshalled the defensive line with his usual competence.

However, Parks were the first to strike. With the game only ten minutes old, Pascoe and Kuforiji harried and chased the defenders into a back pass, and on the uneven ground, the keeper's first touch proved his downfall. The alert Pascoe nipped in and drilled the opening goal of the game into the Salesians' net. Parks sat back and let the home side come on to them. Salesians used the wind well, and soon had Parks pinned back into their own half. The equaliser came half way through the first half. A neat exchange on the Sal's right left the home forward one-on-one and he drove past Turner into the roof of the net to level it up.

Parks then generated a one-on-one of their own, Knapman picking the ball up from the keeper Turner, ran at the Salesians midfield and flighted a defence splitting pass into Kuforiji's path. The Parks centre forward covered forty yards before sliding the ball agonisingly outside the Sal's far post. With it all level at the half, Parks took some confidence and stepped up the pace with the wind and slope at their backs. The two midfields seemed to be cancelling each other out until Jamieson released Kuforiji midway through the second half. After doing all the hard work, muscling out two Salesians' defenders, he hit the underside of the bar with his lob which dropped back into the keepers' grateful arms. This spurred the home side into life, and they set about to win the game in the last twenty minutes.

Parks soaked up almost everything Sal's could throw at them, but in the end their desire to win the title in style drove them on. The winning goal came in the last ten minutes and Parks had no riposte. The champions had earned their crown in style, and Parks had finished a very respectable season in fifth position.

The first team, although losing some youngsters to University and some oldies to the Home, look set to build on this season in Division 2 for a promotion charge next year.

Scorer: Pascoe
Man of the Match: Bernstein
Team: Turner, Nicholls, Kenny, Bernstein, Keogh, Kemp, Jamieson, Knapman, Gaughan, Pascoe, Kuforiji, Cross.

Report by TC