✅ PREMIERS AND GOLDEN BOOT

🥾 Bucket List 25: Win Golden Boot

🏆 Bucket List 26: Premiers

Everyone that plays football likes to score, or get an assist, and most footballers can remember every goal they've scored and assist they've made, the football tragics keep stats on them year in year out.

My youth soccer at school was always left half, in a team with two future professional strikers up front which meat the rest of the team rarely scored, in the 6 years I played for school, I think I scored once or twice.

Fast forward to 2020, my first season with a new Concord Over 45s team, and I'm striker! The thinking was being the youngest in the team, I should be the fastest and at 045 level that's all I should need....... right?!?

The 2020 season announced with us in Div 4, then, covid chaos, season canceled, season resumed, shorter season, teams dropping out, and the league condensed, and we officially ended up in Div 2. All the pre-season training, trial games and confidence was based around Div 4. Did we stand a chance in 045/2.

During covid restrictions our team trained to the maximum allowed social distance restrictions which started with 5 people at running training, then 10, finally socially distanced 5v5 football and then the season started. Thankfully the other teams hadn't been training, fitness was low and fast up front was a great tactic. First game I scored in first 10 minutes.

The first half of the season continued the same way, we scored in the first 5-15 minutes and relied on our backs to defend the lead for the rest of the game. A lot of the games were pretty, but we were top of the league and having fun.

Game 6 Edwards Park vs Burwood, our home ground was the season highlight. Golden Hat-trick in the first 15 minutes. Right foot, head, left foot. ⚽️

The second half of the season, replaying all the same teams wasn't as easy, they were ready for our only move, the fast break. Thankfully we did well enough that a long series of draws and only one shock defeat, was enough to keep us at the top. That, and our beverage mantra "Three Sheet for Clean Sheets" 🍺

The second-last game, victory to us and a loss to team in second and we'd win the season. We won and fifteen minutes after the game and our opposition got a call from the other game, season was over, we'd own! 🎉

Concord O45/2 2020 Premiers - photo taken at the field in Marrickville minutes after hearing the news