NEWCASTLE’S impenetrable defence carried them all the way to the State U15s Boys’Hockey Championship title in Tamworth yesterday.
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The Novocastrians were too good for Sydney East in the Division 1 final, a double to NSW U15s rep and player of the tournament Ky Willott propelling them to a 3-nil win and the association’s first success at 15s level for about five years.
“It was unreal,” coach Dave Willott said.
“We just improved through the tournament.”
They had a tough 5-3 win over Grafton in their opening game but, from there, didn’t concede a goal and thrashed North West Sydney 6-nil in their semi-final.
“Defensively we played well and we put some good goals away,” Willott said.
Defence was the cornerstone though.
It started up front.
“We were able to put a lot of pressure on in the midfield,” Willott said.
That then led to turnovers, and was one of the features of their performance in the final.
“That was the plan – to put the pressure on in the midfield,” he said.
“We’ve got some pretty quick strikers.”
They were able to transition quickly into attack on any turnovers.
Ky flicked them to an early advantage but, despite opportunities, it was all they had to show for the first half.
Willott though wasn’t too worried.
“I felt confident we’d had enough of the first half,” he said.
“It was just a matter of time.”
That time came with about 15 to go, with Ky, from a corner, jinking to beat the advancing runners and give himself some space to unleash to double Newcastle’s lead.
A minute-and-a-half later, after a turnover in the midfield, Angus Abbo, son of former Farrer student Andrew, sealed it for them with some sharp work on his backstick.
Abbo was one of a couple of players with a local connection, with former South United player and coach Steve Rolling’s son Sebastian also part of the successful side.
The hosts didn’t figure in the finals, the 1s finishing sixth in Division 1 after a 7-3 loss to Grafton in their play-off game, and the 2s going down to Newcastle (2) 2-1 to place fourth in Division 3.
Port Macquarie took home the Division 3 spoils after outlasting Bathurst on penalty strokes.
Soul Lourenz struck in the 14th minute to put the coastal side ahead 1-nil.
They held that until just over three minutes to go when Nick Job levelled to send the game into extra time.
Still unable to be separated after two six-minute periods of drop-off extra time – the first with nine on the field each and the second seven – the one-on-one shoot-out was employed.
After Bathurst had missed their first, Port were also unsuccessful with their first but next up Ben Harris and Ryan Payne both slotted theirs to, with their keeper keeping Bathurst out, take the win 3-1.
The Division 2 final went the way of Central Coast 2-nil over a Canberra side containing some Tamworth blood in former Olympic captain Michael York’s son Edward.
Kael Webster gave Central Coast the early advantage, Michael Taylor then sealing it for them from a stroke with just over 10 minutes to go.
New England were a late promotion up to Division 2 and acquitted themselves well,finishing fifth overall with a 2-1 win over Southern Highlands.