It took more than two and a half hours for FC Nelson to finally subdue a gritty Tahuna FC and win the Division 1 Price Charity Cup at a cold and windy Guppy Park.
Tahuna had been the only side to draw with Nelson during the regular season and rocked the home team when Seth Watson charged down a clearing kick to go ahead in the 17th minute.
The men’s premiership winners had multiple chances, but Tahuna keeper Joe Robertson constantly thwarted them.
“Joe is a very good keeper. He used to be in my 1st X1 at Nelson College,” says FC Nelson coach Davor Tadich.
Finally, Nepali midfielder Abinash Baraili beat him after converting an inside ball following a break-out in the second half.
Locked at 1-all after 90 minutes, the teams went to extra time and Tahuna was soon reduced to 10 players after a late tackle.
It was scoreless after the first period, with the crowd battling to keep warm, but then two goals in as many minutes sealed victory for FC Nelson.
The first from Phun Lian and the second from Freddie Thompson for the 3-1 victory.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game as we were missing half our regular team through injury or sickness.
“Tahuna is very physical,” explains FC Nelson captain Labu Pan. “We knew we had the fitness when the game went to extra time,” adds Davor. “We could have played even longer.”
It completed a big day for the club which assumed hosting rights for finals day when Wakefield’s grounds failed to recover from the effects of flooding in time.
There were four other finals on the adjacent Neale Park fields.
FC Nelson Force, the Chin team, overwhelmed Nelson Suburbs 9-2 in the Div 4 final and FC Nelson Loco Steamers came from 2-0 down to beat the Richmond Stags 5-2 in the Div 3 clash.
A second half goal from evergreen Danny Walsh took Nelson Suburbs to a 1-0 win over Tahuna in the Div 2 final.
That was a positive end to a testing day for Southern Premier League coach ‘Skippy’ Stewart, who played the last 20 minutes after racing from Saxton Field where his under-strength side had gone down 4-0 to Christchurch United to finally lose its unbeaten home record this season.
And Suburbs was always going to win the Masters title as it had both teams in the final. Nelson Suburbs FC Masters beat Nelson Suburbs FC Masters United 2-1.
