The last game of the season and it was down to Western to get 3 points and the league title was theirs. GNST started fast and strong and although Western werent playing poorly it seemed GNST were proving too much for them. Their pace and skill was a constant threat and Western were hanging on by the skin of their teeth at times. GNST had the perfect opportunity to take the lead when their striker got himself in a one on one situation and put it wide from 6 yards. Western were not holding possession very well at all. They used the long ball in hope that the pace of Paul Marson could beat the GNST defence, but today of all days he was always being matched for pace. Both teams had a few opportunities to score in the first half, Paul Marson and Luke Thompson should have buried a couple of chances but they were struck straight at the keeper. Luke Thompson was enraged when he felt he was tripped in the box, and the opposition player ended up squaring up to him and they both got a telling off from the ref. GNST were using the wings well and Western lost their disipline a bit and kept diving in for challenges making it easy for GNST to put balls into the box and won a lot of freekicks in dangerous positions. Fortunately for Western the half time whistle could not have come quick enough, they managed to keep the score at 0 - 0. The question now was how were Western going to weather the storm and try and cope with the speed of GNST. Western came out for 2nd half and they pushed the back line up and allowed the wingers to play a little more attacking. This seemed to balance the play a bit and Western started to get into the game. They passed the ball alot better and managed to make a few half chances from crosses. The turning point in the game came when Luke Thompson and Craig James were called up for an aparent foul on the GNST player, Craig James was not happy as he felt the player dived and made this known, then out of no where another player came and grabbed him round the neck, this ended up in both teams brawling in the middle of the park. Eventually when all the fuss had stopped the ref called both players over and showed the GNST player a straight red, and Craig James went in the book. GNST lost their best player and from here on, Western slowly started to dominate. The extra man started to show and Stu Elwell and Shaun Cope found they had space that they didnt have before. Western got forward well but the breakthrough came when Shaun Cope picked the ball up from 25 yards out anHe hit a peach of a shot and it went in top corner off the bar, fantastic goal, the Western players mobbed Shaun Cope in celebration. There was still alot of the game to go and Western were still on top of the game but starting to tire, so a few subs were made. GNST seemed to drop their heads and Western started winning more balls, and finding acres of space down the wings. GNST pushed forward in numbers to try and get a goal back but this left them thin at the back and Rob Zeleski picked the ball up in the centre of the park, and played a through ball to Neil Worley who was never going to beat the keeper to it, but his determination saw him keep running, and the keeper had a nightmare and sliced the ball, leaving Neil Worley the job of slotting the ball into an empty goal. 2 - 0, and this surely sealed it for Western. With just under 10 mins left, Western just passed the ball around and time wasted for the remainder. The full time whistle went and Western had done it, 10 consecutive league wins, and Division 4 champions. Fair play to Wolverhampton GNST who were probably one of the best teams we had played this season, and proved a hard team to finish the league on. A fantastic season, amazing effort for each and every player through out the season, and what a way to cap things off, especially for the few players who are hanging up their boots. CHAMPIONIES CHAMPIONIES OLE OLE OLE!!!
