Local Legends appearance steals the show

The season came to an end last Saturday with the final game of the season against Wellington Olympic.  It was a fairly anti-climatic day as the game was shifted from the familiar surroundings of Richard Prouse Park #1 pitch to the depths of pitch #3.  There was a full team for Wainu to pick from this week which meant there was no need for Scott MacLeod Snr to offer his services to the team as a substitute for the second week running.

Both teams had goals ruled out for offside in the opening exchanges before Olympic took a somewhat deserved lead on the half hour mark.  Pitch #3 isn't renowned for being the greatest of pitches and it was somewhat of a battle for both teams to come to grips with the underfoot conditions.  Wainui did have a couple of half chances before the break but just couldn't find the killer touch that would have drawn the game level.

Joel Evans shields the ball

The home team began brightly in the second half and were awarded a penalty for handball in the box.  Up stepped Mr. Versatile Shon McKechnie to put another penalty away to add to his goal tally for the season.  Olympic stepped up another gear from the kick off and restored their lead five minutes later.  It was real end to end stuff after Olympics second and Matt Faulkner almost leveled again for Wainui but his effort was just off target.  Olympic then increased their lead when a dangerous ball was floated in to the back post and sent flying past Howells in goal to all but end the game as a contest.

An early goal mouth scramble

As the game entered its' final stages the biggest roar of the season went up as local legend and everybodys hero Ralph Chenery made a late appearance as a substitute.  His impact was immediate though as he delivered an inch perfect cross from the right to Joel Evans who controlled the ball, spun and powered the ball in to the bottom corner of the net.  The RCSC were in raptures at this point as the game was alive as a contest again and Wainui had a sniff of maybe a draw with five minutes remaining.

Ralph watches from the sidelines

Olympic hadn't read the script and scored two late goals in the remaining minutes to silence the home crowd.  They left the valley with a 5-2 victory, their first win over Wainui since returning to Wellingtons Premier League.  Safety was secured a while ago for the boys so the result today was for pride more than anything else.  A mid table finish definitely an improvement on last season.

Ralph then acted as compere for the speeches back in the clubrooms (is there anything he can't do?) where it was announced that Division 6 team The Undertakers had avoided relegation with a huge 5-0 win at Awakairangi Park.  And with that the season is over, well all over bar the shouting.  Next up is the annual end of season prize giving where player of the year is awarded.  Neil Barclay was last years recipient, who will it be this year??