1st XI Football 2024 Jim Wishart Tournament Champions

Congratulations to the 1st XI Football Team on winning the Jim Wishart Tournament held this week at Rolleston.

Early wins allowed us to rotate our squad which would pay dividends later in the week. Strong showings from Tayne Leftly, along with key contributions from Royse Guan, Oscar Feek and Quinn Elliot saw us win our early games convincingly. The key match of the pool was a dramatic 1-1 with Hillmorton. Despite dominating much of the second half through Finn Elstob injecting some attacking control and drive, it was a last-minute dramatic stunner from Francis Gillies that eked out a late equaliser to allow us to take a qualification spot and a quarter-final against Burnside.

That quarter-final was a torrid, slightly niggly affair. At 1-0 up after a fast start, Burnside was awarded a penalty. A great save from Jesse Jones in goal saw us score shortly after and largely maintain control of the match, finishing up 3-0. This saw us playing on our favoured service of artificial turf where we comfortably defeated Lincoln High School 3-0 to earn a spot in the final against Hutt Valley.

On a perfect turf with no wind out at Rolleston, we even had the Emirates Dreamliner flyover, for the final. After another good start by CBHS, Hutt Valley’s high press had us under some pressure to close out a goalless first half. Despite creating several half chances, we were unable to take the lead, and despite being pinned back in our half, we still looked defensively comfortable with our stable back four of Luca Greasley, captain Jong Lee, Will MacKay and Eben Van Wyk. The second half began apace with Hutt Valley continuing their high press. More availability in midfield from Lua Otaki, Caden Goodmanson, Oli Williams, and Elliot Hallmark saw us able to play through Hutt Valley’s press more effectively, eventually reducing them to largely walking pace as they ran out of energy and we moved the ball more quickly.