Powell River United over 35 football club travelled to Victoria this past weekend to compete against the Castaways Juniors in the Tony Grover Cup finals.
The game was played under beautiful sunny skies and in front of a decent crowd with many supporters from Powell River. Both teams began the match jockeying back and forth for possession and play was at a good pace resulting in chances at both ends of the pitch.
Castaways opened the scoring at the 25-minute mark when striker Matt Green let a shot go from the top of the box, placing it off the post and into the net. Castaways made a push and at the 39-minute mark was unlucky to not be up by two goals as a shot went off the crossbar and off the pitch.
United pressed on and scored what it thought was the tying goal right at the end of the half only to have it called back on an offside call. The half ended with the home team up 1-0.
The second half started with the Castaways again pressing and putting United on its heels for the first 10 minutes. United then seemed to gain its composure, to regain possession and to attack the opposing net. At the 71-minute mark Dean Piccinin made a run down the pitch and after a near collision with the goalie did a nice job of putting the ball into the net to tie things up at 1-1.
United kept up the pressure and had a few good scoring chances elude the players to keep the game tied. At the 87-minute mark, however, everything changed. Castaway’s defender Jeevan Manhas managed to slip by his check and get his head to the ball off a corner kick, burying it into the net. Goalie Rick Bombardir had no chance at a save. United pushed back and had a couple of chances late in the game but again was unlucky to finish. The game ended 2-1 for the Castaways and the team received its first Tony Grover Cup title.
United now has to regroup as it prepares for its play in the BC Masters Provincial Cup starting in April.
