St Mary’s Reserves welcomed Five South League Champions Old Thorntonians to Hall Place for the Tangerines’ final game of a season that could still see them clinch promotion. The weather for the occasion couldn’t have been much more different from the return leg that was played in driving wind and rain on a borderline waterlogged pitch. This time round the sun was shining bright and the pitch was in a far more playable state. With Chris unavailable, Ed took his place between the sticks in his last game as Second team Captain. A couple of positional alterations were made too, with Birdy filled the vacant centre-back role and Warwick dropping back to right midfield to accommodate the strikeforce of Nunes and Jones.

Things could not have started better for St Mary’s, straight from the kick-off Jones passed the ball to Warwick on the right wing who took a touch to control the ball, a couple more to breeze past the sleeping Thorns defense and a final one to thump the ball low into the net within 10 seconds of the opening whistle blowing! St Mary’s didn’t rest on that early advantage though, playing their best football of the season and putting Thorns under immense pressure only for them to hold out with a series of good saves, blocked shots and near misses. The front two of Jones and Nunes were linking up well and Jon and Jav in the middle were both looking dangerous going forward and working hard to win the ball back in defense.

Thorns started to get back into things after about 20 minutes, showing the reason why they are run away top goalscorers in the league with a series of swift counter-attacks piling men forward. It was from one of these that they scored, good link-up play and just sheer numbers meant their striker managed to find a bit of time and space to squirt a finish into the bottom corner to bring the scores level at 1-1.

St Mary’s continued to have all the possession and territory, but got caught on the break again as Thorns once again broke with pace and numbers and managed to scramble the ball home to take the lead. This did not last long however as St Mary’s drew level within 30 seconds of the restart, a pinpoint long ball from Joey found Jones through on goal and he dealt with the bouncing ball well to expertly lift it over the onrushing goalkeeper and make it 2-2.

The second half took on a completely different complexion to the first with Thorns now enjoying the lions share of possession and Mary’s digging in to avoid falling behind in the game for a second time. The back four of Spider, Joey, Matt and in particular Birdy were exceptional with Ed also putting in an outstanding performance in goal with a couple of crucial point blank saves and dealing with every set piece that came his way. Thorns should have taken the lead when their forward hit the post when it looked easier to score, the rebound was then smashed against the underside of the bar and another follow-up shot was blocked by the heroic Bridy. Unfortunately the defense was eventually breached with 20 minutes to play. Their ridiculously quick winger managed to prod the ball past Joey who clipped him and conceded an unfortunate penalty. This was duly dispatched and a St Mary’s team tiring in the heat faced an uphill struggle to get something out of the game.

It wasn’t until 10 minutes to go that St Mary’s got back out of first gear, a second wind seemed to have breathed energy back into the bodies in Orange and all of a sudden they were swarming over the Thorns penalty area. The breakthrough came in fortunate circumstances with Spider floating a long ball into the area that just kept on drifting over the scrambling keeper and bouncing off the crossbar. Jav was on hand to expertly volley the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle for his first league goal of the season and St Mary’s were back on level terms for a second time in the match.

The Seconds weren’t finished there though and pushed on in the closing minutes for a winner, Warwick looped a header against the bar from a corner before St Mary’s had a ruled offside as Warwick flicked a free-kick on from the edge of the box, Jones rushed through as the Thorns defence moved up and although his shot was saved by the keeper Joey followed up to smash the ball home only for the referee to adjudge Jones to have been in an offside position from the flick-on. St Mary’s were not to be denied however and with virtually the last kick of the game they snatched all three points with influential Jon perfectly dissecting the Thorns defence with a through ball that Jones latched on to and poked past the keeper into the corner to cue scenes of delirium from everyone in Orange.

It was a fitting end to a fantastic season and, playing against a team that had only been beaten twice all season and who had secured the League title with 3 games to spare, we proved we can beat anyone that this league has to throw at us. We are now 6 points clear in second place and have a much healthier goal difference than the only team that can catch us, Glyn. They effectively need to get at least 7 points from a possible nine to overhaul us and with a tough game against Thorntonians next weekend and nothing ever guaranteed in this league we have a great chance of plying our trade in Four South next year.