By GAVIN VAN ROOYEN
East London Central Local Football Association hosted a thrilling weekend of Noelmein Cup action at the North End Stadium which ultimately paved the way to a dream cup final on Sunday between the defending champions Riverside and high-riding CC Lloyd-based Seagulls.
This was a repeat of the 2016 Mark Alexander-sponsored Top 8 final which Riverside won 2-1.
Seagulls edged Star of India by a 2-1 margin in the quarterfinals on Saturday before breezing past Cambridge United in the semifinals by a 3-0 scoreline courtesy of goals from Bevlin Willard, Campbell and Marco van Wyk.
Riverside did not have it their own way in their quarterfinal tussle against Shiloh as the match had to be decided on a penalty shootout after a 1-1 result. Riverside eventually won 5-4.
The defending champions then sneaked past Parkside United by a solitary goal in the semifinals – the goal coming from the boot of Riverside midfielder Curtis Benny.
The scene was thus set for a highly-anticipated thrilling cup final which by all accounts lived up to expectations. Riverside was out of their starting blocks in a flash and had Seagulls defence on the back foot for most of the first half with some incisive play. Gradually, however, the Seagulls midfield started taking control of proceedings.
With about five minutes remaining before the interval an aerial ball from the Seagulls midfield engineroom found the pacy Marco van Wyk out wide on the right which led to an onrushing Ryno Frazer to launch a cynical tackle on Van Wyk. The tackle was however adjudged to have been late and led to match official Clarence Prince having no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
Seagulls skipper Ivandre Campbell stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to lead his side into the halfway break a goal up.
Van Wyk was again in the thick of things in the 54th minute and left Riverside reeling when he delivered an inch perfect cross to striker Allistar Visagie whose header was defected into the back of the net.
The champions however did not go lying down and came back strongly in search of a goal that would bring them back in the game but all their efforts were in vain.
There was jubilation in the Seagulls camp when the final whistle blew to end the cup final. Seagulls have now added a sixth senior cup silverware to their trophy cabinet in four seasons.
l The inaugural East London Central Flavio Sherwin Esbend Memorial U9 academy hosted at North End on Saturday attracted 42 youngsters aged between six and nine years.
EL Central technical director Charles Pretorius was elated by the response.
“What was particularly pleasing was to have the youngsters in attendance accompanied by their parents who assisted with the proceedings. This is our first step in nurturing our football development concept from an extremely young age unlike in the past when we only started focusing on youth development from the U11 age level.
“Other provinces have long before invested in the U9 age concept and this has reaped fruition. Our provincial football results bear testimony of this.”
The late Flavio Esbend was only six years old when he played for Buffalo City Soccer School in the U11 league.
“Flavio proved that football maturity can be honed at a far younger age level. We will be hosting the academy bi-weekly and our main objective is to establish an U9 football league for boys and girls,” said Pretorius.
The lion-hearted show their skills
East London Central Local Football Association hosted a thrilling weekend of Noelmein Cup action at the North End Stadium which ultimately paved the way to a dream cup final on Sunday between the defending champions Riverside and high-riding CC Lloyd-based Seagulls.
This was a repeat of the 2016 Mark Alexander-sponsored Top 8 final which Riverside won 2-1.
Seagulls edged Star of India by a 2-1 margin in the quarterfinals on Saturday before breezing past Cambridge United in the semifinals by a 3-0 scoreline courtesy of goals from Bevlin Willard, Campbell and Marco van Wyk.
Riverside did not have it their own way in their quarterfinal tussle against Shiloh as the match had to be decided on a penalty shootout after a 1-1 result. Riverside eventually won 5-4.
The defending champions then sneaked past Parkside United by a solitary goal in the semifinals – the goal coming from the boot of Riverside midfielder Curtis Benny.
The scene was thus set for a highly-anticipated thrilling cup final which by all accounts lived up to expectations. Riverside was out of their starting blocks in a flash and had Seagulls defence on the back foot for most of the first half with some incisive play. Gradually, however, the Seagulls midfield started taking control of proceedings.
With about five minutes remaining before the interval an aerial ball from the Seagulls midfield engineroom found the pacy Marco van Wyk out wide on the right which led to an onrushing Ryno Frazer to launch a cynical tackle on Van Wyk. The tackle was however adjudged to have been late and led to match official Clarence Prince having no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
Seagulls skipper Ivandre Campbell stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to lead his side into the halfway break a goal up.
Van Wyk was again in the thick of things in the 54th minute and left Riverside reeling when he delivered an inch perfect cross to striker Allistar Visagie whose header was defected into the back of the net.
The champions however did not go lying down and came back strongly in search of a goal that would bring them back in the game but all their efforts were in vain.
There was jubilation in the Seagulls camp when the final whistle blew to end the cup final. Seagulls have now added a sixth senior cup silverware to their trophy cabinet in four seasons.
l The inaugural East London Central Flavio Sherwin Esbend Memorial U9 academy hosted at North End on Saturday attracted 42 youngsters aged between six and nine years.
EL Central technical director Charles Pretorius was elated by the response.
“What was particularly pleasing was to have the youngsters in attendance accompanied by their parents who assisted with the proceedings. This is our first step in nurturing our football development concept from an extremely young age unlike in the past when we only started focusing on youth development from the U11 age level.
“Other provinces have long before invested in the U9 age concept and this has reaped fruition. Our provincial football results bear testimony of this.”
The late Flavio Esbend was only six years old when he played for Buffalo City Soccer School in the U11 league.
“Flavio proved that football maturity can be honed at a far younger age level. We will be hosting the academy bi-weekly and our main objective is to establish an U9 football league for boys and girls,” said Pretorius.
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