BATHURST might have been knocked out at the semi-final stage of the Hockey NSW Men’s Masters 35s division A competition but they can take some comfort in knowing they went down to the eventual winners.
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Sunday’s thrilling final at Cooke Hockey Complex saw Newcastle take a 4-3 victory over Macarthur 1 thanks to a short corner goal after the siren.
Newcastle progressed into the final courtesy of a 6-0 win over Bathurst.
In the 65s competition, which was held concurrently in Bathurst, the hosts failed to make the semi-finals.
Newcastle’s victorious 35s captain Simon Vimpani said the semi-final clash against Bathurst was a tough tussle until the late stages.
“We were pushed right to the end,” he said.
“It was only 2-0 with around eight minutes to go but then we just ran away with it. Bathurst were pretty solid for most of that game.”
Sunday’s Newcastle-Macarthur meeting was a fitting finale for the statewide competition.
Newcastle had two missed chances on goal inside the opening 10 minutes but their constant pressure eventually led to the opening goal for Orange native Keiran Gentles.
Tristan Hunt’s drag flick from a short corner and a quick follow up goal from Craig Campbell took the score out to 3-0 at the break.
It could have been 4-0 before half-time when a Newcastle short corner rebounded off the post.
Macarthur needed a spark to bring them back into the match and it came in the second half through Troy Sutherland.
Sutherland’s solo run out of his own half, and follow up strike into the bottom right corner of the goal, brought his team into the contest once more.
Macarthur’s next goal was a bizarre moment.
A long, overhead pass wasn’t gathered by two Newcastle defenders and bounced towards Macarthur’s Chris Mosley.
Mosley’s shot on goal resembled a tennis serve, perfectly placed into the top corner of the goal.
A contentious penalty stroke call allowed Dean Cunningham to then level the scores back up.
The game appeared to be heading for golden goal but a Newcastle short corner, called with 25 seconds left to play, gave them one last chance.
The initial shot was blocked but Stuart Fletcher was on hand to help the ball into the goal, and deliver his side a memorable win.
“We didn’t take our opportunities early in the second half and they came back at us by taking theirs. They made a great contest of it,” Vimpani said.
“It’s been a great weekend and these are a great bunch of guys to play with.”