Victory at Clendon

Our 10th premier boys' first team, The Sonics, coached by Gary Norris, were victorious at the weekend at the Clendon 10th grade tournament, successfully defending the title which ES had claimed last year.

The competition was fierce with all the AFF premier league top teams participating, as well as the premier Forrest Hill and East Coast Bays teams from US1. Witness to both the high standard of competition and the competitiveness of the teams was the number of games running to extra time and penalties. Of the seven championship knock out games, five went to extra time and four to penalties. Having beaten Three Kings (current national 9th grade title holders) in the quarters in regulation time, the team met Western Springs in their semi. Despite having the better of the game it was all locked up after extra time so parents nails suffered on the sidelines as the boys lined up for penalties. Despite only specialising as a keeper this season, The Sonics' Joshua Stephens took it all in his stride, having already had a marvellous tournament. With the lightening reflexes and calm of a seasoned keeper he saved two of the first four penalties - saving our fifth player from lining up at all.

The final was a similarly tense encounter against Onehunga Sports Phoenix - placed first in the premier league standings after grading to The Sonics' second. Despite already playing two hours of football the boys were sensational, taking the game to them from the outset and being dominant on the field throughout.  Again however the opposition defence held tight and the game went to penalties. Having grown another foot during the day, Josh again came through for the team, with three out of four penalties saved  - pushing two on to the bar in simply spectacular fashion.

A happy group of boys and supporters enjoyed a team dinner out to celebrate the victory and Frank Clarke's 10th birthday - best ever he reckoned - accompanied by the 70 cm trophy that was the spoils of the victors!

Our 9th grade rep team also had a sucessful first up season tournament in the 9th Grade section, finishing 5th, and winning the Shield in the Minors playoff round. For a team only recently put together it bodes very well for future tournaments and the Nationals later this year.

Well done to all the players involved above and remember to keep us updated with any tournament news or individual player successes. We love to hear about ES players and teams doing well.