WPE: Camberwell 0 def. by Croydon 1

Late on the last Sunday afternoon of season 2023 Pennant E after watching and cheering on other Weller teams as they sweated their way through warm Saturday afternoon games assembled for their opportunity to finish off what has been a very successful and enjoyable year with one last victory after securing the Minor Premiership already this year.

After having the second week of the finals off after a win in the Qualifying Final we knew the start would be crucial as Croydon would pile on the pressure early to try and kill off the game. With the exception of a couple of moments the team weathered the early storm well ensuring Croydon’s key forward had little to no impact upon the game and then started to unleash some of our own attacking raids with payoffs in the way of attacking corners.

At quarter time the message was to ensure the ball movement continued to run the Croydon defenders around and to value possession and running in support of each other.

The second quarter was largely an arm wrestle. Mid way through the quarter we were on the wrong end of an “umpires guess” where inexplicably Croydon were awarded a goal despite the ball not crossing the goal line.

Unperturbed the resilience of the team kicked in during the second half supported by a raucous crowd who stopped in of their way home from the State Hockey Centre, the team lifted the work rate level even higher constantly keeping Croydon under pressure by keeping the game moving with Croydon’s only respite when they smashed the ball out of their defence.

Despite winning numerous attacking corners and making many dangerous circle penetrations as fatigue increased and the pressure of time winding down, passes just missed targets and shots just went wide.

Highlight of the second half was Lexie’s reaction after pulling off a blistering short corner save; she pulled off a “Tony Gustavsson reaction” similar to that seen during the Matilida’s World Cup Quarter Final after a shoot out save was made indicating that she wished for more volume and support from an already raucous crowd.

Whilst ultimately it proved to not be our day. The team should be hugely proud of everything that they have achieved this year. To only lose 2 games for the entire season and each of those by a solitary goal is a huge effort.