Sport

Glebe giddy after fourth cup

02Jul08

GLEBE Hockey Club's first-grade men's side has won the Yates Cup for the fourth consecutive year after defeating the Norwest Strikers on Sunday.

The cup playoff is held halfway through the season between the teams in first and second place on the ladder.

Second on the table, Glebe had lost some of their key players, with NSW representative Matthew Wark needing a shoulder reconstruction and under-21 NSW representatives Alister Cullen and Ian Paterson away at the State Championships.

Having previously lost to the first-placed Strikers earlier in the season, Glebe was looking to find their opposition's weaknesses.

The first half began positively for Glebe as they attacked with flair thanks to the combination of Michael and Patrick Wark, with Patrick snatching an early goal.

The Glebe side held solidly in defence which enabled them to try some things up front and put together some brilliant passes.

Mark Paterson showed some stunning individual skills by dribbling the ball along the backline and beating the goalie to slot the ball in the back of the net. A disallowed goal to the Norwest Strikers with minutes to go in the first half saw the Glebe side go into the second half with a 3-0 lead.

The second half saw a dominant Strikers outfit creating entertaining attacking opportunities and snatching some quick goals to level the scores at 3-3. The Glebe side was clearly on the backfoot, and needed to find something to get into their attacking half.

A great individual run by 18-year-old Josh LaSpina lead to a short corner which was converted, taking the Glebe side to 4-3.

With minutes to go, a solid defence in the middle by Aaron Oman ensured Glebe held onto their lead to win the cup.

STORIES IN THIS SECTION:

• Winner has magic time
• Glebe giddy after fourth cup
• Tigers set sights on top five
• League briefs
• Winning games, the simple plan
• Sydney Uni crushed by Bombers in a tight play