Caversham finishes perfect season

Tim Horner.
Tim Horner.
Caversham completed a stunning Football South Premier League season with a 2-0 victory over Mosgiel to finish the competition with a perfect record of 18 wins from 18 games.

The champion club has won the top division 14 times since 2000.

It was unbeaten on six of those occasions, but the closest it had previously come to a perfect-win record was in 2010, when it won 17 and drew one.

The champions had the advantage of a howling Tahuna Park gale at their back in the first half, and Mosgiel spent much of it pinned back on defence as the Caversham midfield trio of Michael Hogan, Jared Grove and Andrew Ridden controlled the tempo.

Coach Tim Horner was once again marshalling the side from centre back with Jude Fitzpatrick still unavailable.

The opening goal came after Hogan was fouled 25m out and Sam Collier hammered a brilliant left-footed free kick into the top left corner, leaving Mosgiel keeper Liam Whittaker with no chance.

Horner’s side could have doubled its lead just before halftime but Whittaker pulled off an incredible save to deny Lewis Jackson from point-blank range.

Only one goal down, Mosgiel seemed confident of getting back into the game in the second half with some support from the breeze.

But its hopes were dashed just five minutes in when Grove got on the end of a cross to score Caversham’s second.

The industrious midfielder is an underrated component of the Caversham unit and fully deserved his goal.

Mosgiel was missing a raft of first-choice players but kept Caversham honest throughout.

Striker Isaac Snell was energetic and came close with a rare Mosgiel effort on goal, and 16-year-old fullback Rory Findlay did not look out of place up against the best attack in town.

Whittaker was impressive in goal and made another fantastic fingertip save to deny a powerful Ridden free kick.

Caversham will travel to Christchurch this weekend to play Cashmere Technical in the South Island Championship final.

In other club matches, Dunedin Technical leapfrogged Mosgiel to finish in second place with a 1-0 win over Roslyn Wakari at Ellis Park.

A first-half strike by Ash Watson was the only goal in a game that both coaches admitted was a rugged and fairly dour affair.

Both Tony Martin and Colin Thom had to make numerous changes to their respective starting lineups, which probably contributed to the scratchy match.

Caversham retained another piece of silverware with  its Fletcher Cup side beating Mosgiel 3-2 to win the Chinese Charity Cup.

The cup is contested between the top two finishing sides in the second tier.

Caversham’s success in the Fletcher Cup for a third consecutive year means the club completed a "triple double", its two top sides winning their  league titles for three years running.

- Morgan Jarvis

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