THE excitement surrounding of Swan Hill Soccer Club’s youth side is continuing to grow, after the Swans overcame Spring Gully at Eaglehawk in the semi-final of the Knockout Cup on Sunday.
The win means the Swans will play for silverware next Sunday when they travel to Bendigo for the final of the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League event.
The Swans came out strongly against the Gully, with many passes to the forward line and shots on goals going wide.
Eventually a through-ball from Shannon Rain allowed the Swans attack to take on the tall defence and score first at the 15th minute.
This made the Swans hungry for more, and good team work and persistence from the midfield saw more goal-scoring attempts, however, further goals were not forthcoming.
Spring Gully scored just before half time to make it one-all at the break.
The second half started much the same as the first with Swan Hill having a lot of the play and frustrating Spring Gully defence line.
A kick out from the Spring Gully keeper saw the ball land at Anthony Lewin’s feet, who passed forward to Tyson Fox who turned and scored.
Coming in the 50th minute, the goal took the Swans to 2-1 up.
Swan Hill was determined to keep Spring Gully under pressure holding well in defence from Justyn Moser, Jack Dickinson, Cooper Fox and Anthony Lewin with some strong saves by Ben Lewin in goals.
Play continued back and forth until Swan Hill took advantage to score again, when an Anthony Lewin throw-in found captain Jalal Kagar at the top of the box.
He weaved through the defence to score the third goal.
A slight lapse in concentration saw Spring Gully break through the defence line to score their second.
Swan Hill played as a team to finish the game out and take the win 3-2.
Coach Tony Di Palma and spectators were pleased with the newly-formed youth side’s progress a fortnight into the season.
The Swans take on Strathdale in Bendigo in the grand final of the Knockout Cup on Sunday.
