North Beach 2007 A-grade Premiers to make it 4 in a row

April 26, 2008

North Beach are A grade Premiers for 2007 to complete rare feat in football by winning it’s fourth successive A grade premiership to equal Mt Lawleys 1985 to 1988 rein by defeating Wembley AFC by 6 points at Medi Bank Stadium on Saturday 22nd September a fine day 22 degress light SW winds. Crowd 2000

The match was a titanic struggle from start to finish which started in controversial circumstances with star Nth Beach All Australian Centreman Kyle Riemann felled behind the play and was knocked unconscious in the first minute of play , Nth Beach responded with the next 3 goals to put early scoreboard pressure on Wembley.

Nth Beach were well served by Brent Stewart at CHB who was on fire and repelled many Wembley attacking moves early in the game , at Half time Nth Beach held a handy 20 point lead Nth Beach 8.4. 52 to Wembley 5.2 32.

Best Players to Half time were Brent Stewart , Josh McGinnity , Shane Paap, Reece Cunningham, Simon Pearce, Chris Pearce, and Ben Heap.

The Premiership quarter was a cracker with Wembley kicking with a slight breeze to the northern end of the ground gained momementum with run off half back to outscore Nth Beach. Wembley 3.2 to Nth Beach 1.3 , in this quarter Kyle Reimann returned to the ground after the earlier incident and was a inspiration to the team this saw the crowd being involved and the game taken to another level. Stewart continued his dominence at CHB which may have saw the score line further adrift than the slight 3 quarter time lead. Nth Beach 9.6.60 to Wembley 8.4. 52.

The last quarter will go down in Amatuer League and club history as one of the most intrigueing quarters of football ever seen , which saw Wembley continue their momentum from the 3rd quarter to race out to a remarkable 20 point lead at the 10 minute mark of the last quarter, aided now by a gusty 3 goal breeze. The writing was on the wall and the self belief on the Nth Beach team was to again be tested , by stopping the run of Wembley Nth Beach were able to continuely attack from the centre line with Ben Heap , Matt Fong were causing havoc setting up Nth Beach attacking moves. Wembley were now looking to save the game which was to be their down fall, as Nth Beach sensed the dynamic shift in their game plan , they set about to wittle the score down with behinds to Steve “Thumpa” Bandy and Ben Wilson after a Bizaar act by the Wembley fullback who looked to kick out and then played on from the square then turned around and kicked the ball into the behind post to be out on the full which allowed Wilson to snap a difficult shot from the boundary for a behind. 2 rushed behinds after kick ins ,Nth Beach were in for the kill but scoring was to be a problem and 4 behinds in a row brought the score back to 6 points at the 22 minute mark. A short pass from the ensuring point saw Josh McGinnity intercept and the gather to see a pack form then broke free to kick a score leveling goal with no time on the scores were level at the 23 minute mark, the crowd were electric and saw many faint hearted supporters going for the spray , as this was a epic in the making, a true last man standing game where no quarter was given.

The centre bounce was a even contest with Matt Fong again getting the break away from the centre with a quick kick out to the Nth Beach Half forward line there was reckless abandon shown by both teams the ball was now rolling 35 meters towards the boundary from the Nth Beach goals to Southern right hand side when Ben Wison the star of the 2006 flag, after a quiet day by his standards swooped on the errant ball and snapped from the pocket this kick had to be seen to be believed, the ball helicoptered at speed to cut through the prevailing breeze that all day had pushed balls in that zone out of bounds on the far side of the ground, the ball landed 2 meters behind the goals for full points to wild celebrations from the North Beach faithfull who had just witnessed a miracle. The game was not over as the last chapter was not written with 90 secounds to play the centre clearance went to Wembley and the ensuring attack into the forward 50 was heart stopping Jackson ” Jacko” Harwood casually plucked the ball from congestion and kicked truely to Bandy in the back pocket to mark and hold up play, with 20 seconds to play the ball was kicked along the boundary on the grand stand wing where Josh McGinnity was infringed and free kick paid, it was now the last writes were played out to Wembley and as the final siren sounded Nth Beach had won in grand style to over come a 20 point deficit kicking into a 3 goal sea breeze and stop a hard running out fit , the accolades can not be put into writing. Coach Bill Duckworth and Assistant Coach Mark Kiely had again orchestrated moves that once again turned a game . A truely amazing game and all who witnessed it will remember for years to come.