Concord JFC have been crowned Grace Martin Trophy Champions for the first time in the club’s history after a hard-fought victory over league premiers, and defending champions, Leichhardt Saints.
What makes this achievement even more extraordinary is that Concord was not even in the top division last season: so this team has won the competition at the first time of asking.
The team itself has been together since they were seven years old with the majority of the team moving up age groups and divisions together, and even competing in the Kanga Cup as juniors.
Starting the season hoping to be surprise packets, the team finished the first round of the regular season on top of the table, before dropping some unexpected results in the final five games – leading to Leichhardt Saints winning the league premiership.
That disappointment of missing out on the league premiership was put to bed in the Grand Final though, as Concord came up on top after extra time.
The match itself was played on a clear and warm Sunday afternoon at Strathfield Park with a light breeze keeping playing conditions from being too hot for the players. The all-weather surface was fast but perfect for football and a large crowd surrounded the ground.
As in previous encounters between Concord and Saints, straight from the kick-off both teams battled for control of the midfield with Leichhardt taking advantage of the opportunities they created in their final third by opening the scoring with a well taken goal though Michelle Reilly-Brown.
Conceding the early goal appeared to harden the resolve of Concord and it did not take long for the equaliser.
Recently crowned Golden Boot winner, Chelsey Johnson, found herself with the ball in heavy traffic just on the edge of the penalty box. Despite the close attention of the defenders, Johnson turned, shot and found the side netting to make it 1-1!
By this stage the match had turned into an end-to-end encounter with Leichhardt Saints the next team to pile on the pressure. Having earned a corner, the ball was whipped in nicely on the edge of the six-yard box and expertly headed into the back of the net by Lucia Gonzalez.
Leichhardt took the 2-1 lead into half time.
Coming out of the sheds, it was clear the intensity of the first half had taken its toll on the fitness of the players from both teams, and the game started to open up.
On an attacking raid, Concord won a corner with the resulting clearance falling to Denise Chan. Taking a shot from long range, Chan’s shot was hard and low and took a nasty deflection off a Saints defender before finding its way into goal.
That took the score to 2-2, and it remained that way until the end of 90 minutes.
All three finals matches this season have gone into golden goal extra time, so it became four out of four in the Grand Final as both teams came out for two potential periods of ten minutes.
The first stanza remained scoreless but 15 minutes into extra time, Concord took the victory and the title.
Ellie Jones received the ball inside the penalty box, beat her defender and shot past the goalkeeper for the match-winning goal.
It was an epic game to finish off what has been a wonderful year of Grace Martin Trophy competition.
Feature image: Photographed with Love
