NO LUCK: Josh Brownie against Paul Dalzill while playing for the Wanganui City Reserves against Manawatu Red Sox A in June. Red Sox had the final say of the season on Saturday. PHOTO/FILE
IT WAS a matter of close but no cigar for the Wanganui City Reserves on Saturday as they failed to claim the required victory over the Red Sox Manawatu A in their Easter Cup final.
Meanwhile the local competition proved to be a mathematician's dream as the Wanganui Athletic Reserves claimed the Roly Taylor Cup in one of the most exhilarating final days the competition has seen in years.
The City Reserves put up a valiant effort against Red Sox at Skoglund Park at the weekend, but were unlucky to fall to a 2-0 at fulltime and see their chances of silverware slip away.
With a full squad, and bolstered by a couple of players who had graduated into the City first team since the opening stages of the competition, the Reserves battled well, showing there was plenty of steel left in a team who enjoyed a mercurial regular season.
However, Red Sox A, unlucky in their own right not to claim the Western Premiership title this year, showed they could be more consistent and finish the chances that presented themselves.
While the loss may have been stinging, the Reserves would have come home with their heads high, knowing they left everything on the park. They now look ahead to a long off-season before the club start planning for next season, with aims of becoming table-toppers again.
Back home at Wembley, the stakes could not have been higher for those who don their club colours every weekend to battle for little more than pride.
With the Athletic Reserves, Marist Celtic, and City Hammers all in with viable chances of lifting the revered Roly Taylor Cup at the end of the day, what transpired will be talked about for seasons to come.
The battle opened with the Wanganui City Hammers and Marist Celtic going toe to toe, with Hammers needing a win to be in with a chance of a Cup victory, while Celtic needed not only to win, but to do so by a substantial margin to put the pressure on the Athletic Reserves in the following fixture.
The passion and determination running through both teams was clear, but it was Marist Celtic who showed they had more at stake, taking a 5-0 lead into the halftime break after a hat-trick to Deek Reuters put them on the right path.
With the Celtic appearing to have their foot solidly on their rivals' throat with 45 minutes to go, the Hammers came out with renewed determination. They looked eager to make the Celtic work hard if they wanted to claim the big victory they needed.
While they managed to keep Celtic attack at bay after their first-half onslaught, the Hammers were rewarded through a goalkeeping howler at the back. Blair Davidson made what seemed to be an innocuous strike from out wide towards the goal, only to have the Celtic keeper fumble the ball, slip over, and see the ball trickle over the goal line.
The pressure was then back on the Celtic to put more away, yet the Hammers were giving nothing up, until Celtic were awarded a penalty, which Reuters converted easily to leave the score 6-1 at the final whistle.
With the equation now simplified for the Athletic Reserves, the Celtic were then left to become spectators for 90 minutes to see if they had done enough to win the league.
They had set the Reserves a target of needing to record a five-goal difference between themselves and St Anthony's if they were to wrest the title back to their clubrooms.
The task look monumental in the opening moments, with St Anthony's striking first and taking an early lead, and piling the pressure on their opponents.
But neither side was prepared to give in to the other, with the Reserves soon drawing level, and resetting the counter for goals required, only to have their goal-line breached once more, sending spectators reeling at the possibility of an upset.
But the Athletic Reserves showed they were still in the fight, bringing the scores level at half time, and knowing they then faced a clear uphill battle during the second stanza.
With the resumption of play, it looked like neither side was going to be able to break the deadlock as time wound down.
With barely 15 minutes of play remaining however, the Reserves dug deep and found the back of the net four more times, before the final whistle sounded, to win 6-2.
With the calculators popping out of players' pockets, it was soon discovered that while Celtic and Athletic were now level on points and goal difference.
The competition rules stated that the advantage would then go to the team who had scored more goals throughout the Division One season.
That left Celtic with their 18 goals and Athletic with a crucial tally of 20, meaning they had won the Roly Taylor Cup on count back.
It was the type of finish no one could have predicted, leaving Celtic panning back through their season's highlight reel in their heads - asking questions of where more goals could have come from or what could have been done to prevent so many being conceded.
Meanwhile Athletic were singing long into the night as newly crowned champions of the local men's competition.
All clubs now turn their attention to the Charity competitions this weekend, with the final round of pool play in the Bowl and Plate as teams vie for positions in the semifinal knockout stages.
A revamped format for the Charity Cup competition sees Wanganui Athletic and Wanganui City looking to best each other in a two week, home-and-away format that is certain to entertain local football fans.