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Co-curricular » Football
Tournament 2008
The dream had become a reality and the lads departed on Saturday August 30th on what was to be a 9 hour van trip down to Invercargill with exciting stops in Dunedin and the boy's new favourite town Gore to compete in the New Zealand secondary schools football Linwood cup.
The tournament comprised of 12 teams from around New Zealand and the team played 7 games in four days. The tournament produced a roller coaster of emotions for both the coaching staff and the team. Day one saw the team produce a loss and a fantastic win against Waitaki Boys 4-2 with a super hat trick to Captain Jacob Allen which included two screamers from 40 yards out. These goals lifted the team and showed the other teams St Thomas was here to play. With the boys in such high sprits an inspirational haka was given to welcome team manager Andrew Strachan at the Invercargill airport in front of many travelers.
Day two was a very important day where two wins were needed to make the semis. This day was renamed St Thomas' day and lived up to its name with the team taking a very well deserved victory 2-0 over Ophi and a draw 0-0 against the Wakatipu team.
Day 3 saw the team play Verdon College knowing that 10 goals could get them to the semis or facing having to play of for 5-8. The team played very well and dominated eventually winning 8-1. Not sure if this was enough it wasn't until a quick tally up and confirmation from tournament organizers that the team had managed to make the semis by 2 goals on goal difference. This brought huge celebrations and chants from the team.
In the semi St Thomas played Mountainview College which had finished top of their pool. The game was one of two halves in which St Thomas played their best football and most complete performance and were up 2-0 at half time. The second half started poorly with a player being sent off and St Thomas was down to ten men for 25mins and were under attack for the whole of the second half but eventually held on to win and make the final which was a huge effort playing 6 games in three days.
The final saw us play Rangiora High which was a great game that finished 1-1 after normal time with a fantastic equalizer from Mena Malik from another impressive set piece. This game went to extra time. Rangiora scored with 2 minutes to go in the 2nd half of extra time and St Thomas hearts were broken. The boys had given their all and were stoked to finish runner up and claim a silver medal. This was a huge accomplishment from the team who had limited preparation time and was aiming for a top six finish. The most exciting thing is that the team will retain 14 of the 16 team members and should go one better next season.