GOLDEN OLDIES: The gold-medal winning team was: Back row, Bryan Stewart, Kerry McGuinness, Memo Musa, Gregor Vallely, Gavin Parsons, Bean O'Donnell, Mark Goodier and Steve Tinnion. Front row, Trevor Strong, Uwe Kroll, Mike Cronin, Phil Lendrum, Bob Toowoomba (from our sister City in Australia), Neville Groves, Les Crossley and Russell Burney.
GOLDEN OLDIES: The gold-medal winning team was: Back row, Bryan Stewart, Kerry McGuinness, Memo Musa, Gregor Vallely, Gavin Parsons, Bean O'Donnell, Mark Goodier and Steve Tinnion. Front row, Trevor Strong, Uwe Kroll, Mike Cronin, Phil Lendrum, Bob Toowoomba (from our sister City in Australia), Neville Groves, Les Crossley and Russell Burney.
The elder statesmen of the Wanganui Athletic Football Club showed complete dominance when running out convincing winners at the New Zealand Masters games in Dunedin earlier in the week.
Playing in the over-50 division of the competitive grade, Wanganui Athletic Cosmos claimed the gold medal after making the final withjust one of the four pool play games a close encounter.
In round robin play, the team won all four games, the hardest being Sunday morning's match against Halswell United from Christchurch, which was decided 1-0 through a late Cosmos goal.
The final was played on Monday on the expansive Forsyth Barr Stadium pitch.
The Cosmos passing game on the wide pitch dominated FC DeCarle from Dunedin to bag the gold with a 6-2 victory.
In five hours of football during the tournament, the Cosmos defence of Gavin Parsons in goal, Bryan Stewart, Bean O'Donnell, Memo Musa, Gregor Vallely and Russell Burney conceded just two goals.
At the other end, Mark Goodier was in great goal scoring form and scored a Golden Boot tally of 10 goals in five games, while Mike Cronin scored a hat-trick in the final.
In the final, Uwe Kroll and Phil Lendrum both contributed well-taken goals from the midfield.
