Cobram Roar’s season came to a heartbreaking conclusion on Saturday evening with a 3-1 extra time defeat at the hands of Myrtleford Savoy in the AWFA Men’s semi-final.
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The match, which was played under lights at Savoy Park, was a hotly contested affair with the match scoreless at the break, thanks in part to some great goalkeeping from Cobram’s Lachlan McDonald.
McDonald couldn’t do anything about Myrtleford’s opener, with Luc Doherty being left unmarked on a corner to head into the back of the net.
Roar rallied from this setback and levelled the match with an hour played; coach Bill Puckett laced a free kick into the area for countryman Mitchell Speechley-Price to nod a lopping header over Savoy shot-stopper Jayden Vescio.
The game was destined for extra time but moments before the full-time whistle Cobram was cut down to 10 men when Ben Zito picked up his second booking of the match.
With Cobram legs beginning to tire, Myrtleford tightened its grip on the game and pushed ahead in the 99th minute. Co-coach Matt Park, who had started from the bench, got on the end of Doherty’s pinpoint cross to blast a the ball past McDonald.
Doherty, who was putting in a Player of the Match performance, secured his side’s spot in the grand final in the second half of extra-time with another headed goal off a corner.
After the match, Puckett believed his team’s courageous defeat was a clear marker of improvement from last season when the side was belted 6-0 by Savoy at the quarter-final stage.
“We wanted to be competitive and if we were going to be unsuccessful, we wanted to make sure they were walking off on their hands and knees,” he said.
“Going down to 10 men just made it one step too far for us at this present moment.
“I can’t fault the boys, they have gone above and beyond, and many teams would fold and collapse going one-nil down against this Myrtleford side, but we dug our heels in.
“I am gutted but at the end of the day it shows how far we have come, because this time last year we got beaten 6-0 against Myrtleford and now we are disappointed with a 3-1 loss in extra-time one step further.”
Puckett believes there are good times ahead for Cobram soccer with a bulk of the side made up of local talent, including a number of promising youngsters.
“We are a home-grown side with home-grown players who are hungry to play and do the club proud,” Puckett said.
“If we are going to bow out, we are going to go out there fighting to show that we are proud to wear the yellow and black of Cobram.
"I would like to think we've done the club proud, we've done the community proud and hopefully we have sparked something for next year.
“The young boys have shown they are a key part of that and when they step up they aren’t just making up the numbers, they are a credit to themselves and where they have come from.”
Myrtleford progress to this Sunday’s grand final at Jelbert Park. Savoy’s opponent will be league winner Wangaratta City, which edged out Boomers in Sunday’s semi-final 3-2.
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