The Richmond adult amateur soccer scene hosted its annual finale on Sunday, with West Coast FC and the Rain City Gunners taking home the silverware.
West Coast lifted the Richmond Adult Soccer Association’s (RASA) League Cup – putting away league champion Richmond All Blacks 1-0 – while the Gunners had to wait until the last few minutes to see off 10-man Flying Beaver, also with a solitary strike, to lift the Masters trophy.
In the league cup final, both teams had been at this stage before in recent years, yet have fallen to the Graduates who have claimed the last three titles.
The game also held extra motivation for West Coast, which would qualify for the Provincial B Cup with a win. If they lost, their season would be over.
West Coast looked strong from the opening whistle and carried more of the possession and, although there were chances at both ends, West Coast seemed the more likely to score.
And so it proved to be the case, although it arrived via an unfortunate deflection from a throw-in, which went in off the All Blacks keeper and into the back of the net on the hour-mark.
West Coast, however, now had to endure a nail-biting 30 minutes and more chances at either end could have put the game to bed or forced extra-time.
Hold on they did, though, with West Coast earning their first major hardware in RASA.
The Masters final may be for older players (over 35), but what it lacked in youth, it made up for in drama.
Still locked at 0-0 in 75 minutes, a Flying Beaver player saw red for a foul in the box. However, Rain City’s PK was saved by the Beavers’ Rhys Verde Rios and the game remained deadlocked.
Flying Beaver was now on the back foot down to 10 men, but Rain City couldn't seem to take advantage of having an extra player on the field.
However, with only three minutes remaining, Rain City got a corner, which was headed in by Faizal Karim to claim the cup.
Earlier in the day, the annual All-Star game was played out between Team Green and Team Red.
Four goals in the last six minutes of the first half made for a close 3-2 lead for Team Green with Miguel Keough of Div 1 Young Bloods scoring three in three minutes.
Team Green managed to pull away in the second half, scoring three quick, successive goals to make it a 6-3 final.
