Tom Clarkson (University Blue) looks for opportunities
upfield during the Dunedin men's club hockey final at the
McMillan Centre on Saturday. Albany A's Nick Elder is in
pursuit, while University's Rob Buhler keeps an eye on
proceedings. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Albany A came from behind to clinch a memorable 3-2 win
over University Blue in the premier men's club final on
Saturday.
A goal five minutes from fulltime shattered University
spirits and led to jubilation from the Albany side.
Before Albany's Jeremy Botting found himself in front of
goal, the game looked to be heading into penalty shots.
But Botting was able to slide the ball past the University
goalkeeper, putting Albany in front for the first time in the
match.
The goal came at the end of a late comeback from Albany,
after University had led for the entire game and had all the
momentum going into the last 10 minutes.
It took 20 minutes for a goal to be scored, with University's
Tom Clarkson hitting the back of the net with a drag flick
from a penalty corner.
University had the best of the first half, with its backs
able to keep Albany's formidable attacking players away from
the goal. The students led 1-0 at the break.
Albany wasted no time in levelling the scores after halftime,
with Kane Russell's drag flick hitting the back of the net.
Aaron Farrell then took the lead back for University, after
Sundeep Naik made a full-field break, fooling the goalie and
passing the ball through to Farrell to score.
With 10 minutes to play the scores were levelled again, after
Albany had a penalty corner saved but was able to gather the
ball again to force a penalty stroke. From there, Russell was
too difficult to stop.
After Albany's third goal, University threw everything it had
into finding an equaliser, but it was unable to break
Albany's defences.
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