Season 2013. Well there it is then. Over. Last Saturday out at Castle Hill, St Pius X College 1st XI wrapped up the ISA Championship with a 3-1 win against Oakhill College. Already Minor Premiers, SPX finished up with a Grand Final victory being unbeaten in the ISA Competition winning ten games and drawing two. Pleasingly this leaves the side unbeaten in 23 ISA competition games stretching to the first match of 2012 when we went down to St Patrick's.
Well the first thing to say is that 2012 had been a hard act to follow!
Claudio v St Patricks
Following on
from a record breaking side, in a record setting year, is invariably difficult.
Our 2013 St Pius X 1st XI Football team were faced with exactly this challenge and may I say from the
outset they made a wonderful attempt at doing just this.
We
played ten trials in all before the end of Term one. Beating club sides Northbridge 5-3 and Lindfield 1-0,
St Augustine's 3-1 and downing GPS hotshots Riverview 2-1. Further wins came against Forest Killarney 11-0 and men's All age team Homenetmen, 3-1. Two tough games against Knox Grammar and the SPX Old Boys both ended in a draw.
SPX 1st XI v SPX Old Boys 2013 5-5 Draw!
In our pre-season we took on all comers ranging from local State school Asquith to the expansive fields of The Kings School out at North Parramatta on their historic ‘Wanderers Oval’ which was the acknowledged site of the first ever football match played in Sydney in 1880. We played and won at all these places.
Measuring ourselves against GPS and CAS opponents is always a good test.
Our only defeat in Term 1 was a surprise 0-2 reverse to St Aloysius on a quagmire pitch at Tyneside. Here we went behind early then lost someone to a red card, a blow we could not recover from. In truth we learnt more about ourselves in this defeat than in any other game up to that point.
As
in previous years we participated in the two day St Andrew’s Cup competition
down at Oakhill College emerging from 5 matches as Plate winners with a 1-0 win over Barker College.
The
16 trial matches played by SPX 1st XI set us up well for the ISA
season. Regular competition wins were recorded against Redlands 3-0; Chevalier
3-0; St Andrew’s 4-1; Redlands again 5-0,
Chevalier again 3-0 only being punctuated by a hard fought draw 1-1 at home to St
Patrick’s College. Before the end of Term two we also managed a 5-0 victory
against Hills Grammar in the CIS Cup Competition where we were 2012 holders.
As
we came to the half-way point of the year we headed off up to Brisbane to
participate in the annual Southern Skies Tournament. Here we
played
sides from Sydney Brisbane, Country Queensland and for the first time opponents
from French Caledonia. Over the week away
we
downed Sydney Grammar 2-0; Shore 2-0; Barker College 1-0; Scots College 2-0; and
previous year’s winners St Peter Claver 5-0 with our single loss coming against
the French Caledonians by 1-0.
St Pius X and New Caledonia. Queensland Tour
This
was a great match allowing our players to experience a style of opponent who
was quick, skilled and tricky. As things emerged later, these South Pacific
boys won the whole thing with their energetic play that won the hearts of
everyone who saw them. Unfortunately for us, progress was not to extend beyond
the semi-final stage because although we had comprehensively accounted for them
earlier on, we were thwarted by Scots College in the semi-final, the game
finishing 0-0. In the ensuing penalty shootout we were beaten missing out on a
chance to play a final against the French Caledonians. We finished 3rd
overall beating CAS based Barker 4-2.
In spite of our disappointment at falling over at the penultimate stage we returned to Sydney ready and prepared for the second half of the ISA season.
Once again
we produced some fine performances. Wins over Oakhill 3-1; St Andrew’s 10-0 and
Oakhill 2-1 were again punctuated by a 2-2 away draw with St Patrick’s College.
In cup football St Pius 1st XI were again thwarted in a penalty shoot-out when drawing 2-2 with Knox Grammar. Oh what might have been! We led here until virtually the last minute and a good opportunity to retain the CIS Cup was gone.
As is the way in football we were soon made to refocus because we were also in the semi-finals of the ISA Competition. Oxford Falls the venue and a comprehensive 3-0 victory over St Andrew’s saw us reach the ISA final for third year in a row.
As are the
vagaries of Finals football as ISA Minor Premiers we were actually required to
play our ISA Final against Oakhill out at their facility! This had indeed been
the situation in 2012 when we won the Premiership the previous season.
ISA Final action 2013
All over
ISA victory against Oakhill
On a warm
afternoon the Grand Final was played at the unusual time of 3.00 O’clock in the
afternoon. Several hundred supporters were on hand to witness a tense affair. After twenty minutes of tight chanceless
football striker Claudio Rosano announced his entry into the match with a
cracking strike from his first touch of the ball! Just when St Pius X looked
likely to add to this score Oakhill pounced on a hesitant defence to equalise
just before the half time break.
Captain Nick Morabito with ISA Shield
In a stop
start second half tension seemed to be influencing the flow of the game until
Rosano snuck in with a deft touch to put St Pius X back in front, 2-1. Oakhill
were now down a man and were wilting on the big pitch. Vice-captain Luke Capra
soon put the game beyond doubt with an unstoppable drive from 20 yards, 3-1. Now at last
St Pius X were beginning to play their confident possession based game and
could have extended their lead but for some brave keeping from the Oakhill
custodian.
St Pius X College Unbeaten ISA Champions 2013
Relief was
the most tangible emotion for everyone at the end of the ISA Grand Final. In a
season that had involved 38 matches we had secured a major trophy, the ISA
Shield was ours for the second successive season, the first time we had
achieved this.
Captain Nicholas Morabito was our man of the match, while
Claudio Rosano was named the ‘Shahab
Kargarian’ most valuable player in the game by the match officials.
SPX 1st XI Season 2013
P 38 W 29 D 6 L3 F 113 A 36
So as it ends again, it all begins. My boys Spurs have made a steady start to the new EPL Season. Two 1-0 victories both where new boy Soldado scored form the penalty spot. On Sunday (early Monday morning here in oz) we play the Arsenal. It will be an interesting tussle for Tottenham have invested massively in new players while the hero formerly known as Gareth Bale will probably have left the building by then.
I'm optimistic for Spurs....hope springs eternal....Soldado, Erikson, Lamela, Capoue and Paulino will make the side very competitive. Yes, football is truly an all year around, twenty four hour pre-occupation for many of us around the world. This was my fiftieth year of playing just finished and thirtieth year of coaching. It's great being fully involved in what is truly the world game!
Selling Gareth Bale gets us a lot for our money :)
