The event was originally scheduled to take place at the premises of Aerosud Aviation's Innovation & Training Centre in Centurion, but due to the entry of only 8 particpants from Pretoria an 11th hour decision was made to move the event to the homebase of Pretoria Flickers Club in Pretoria. The 8 participants were placed in two groups of four, where the higher ranked players competed for the Pretoria Open prize and the lower ranked players competed in the Plate Section. The latter group also included Subbuteo debutant Webster Morris. We were treated to a feast of goals on the day, as we witnessed 36 goals scored over the 21 scheduled fixtures!
Round 1 matches once again pitted pre-tournament rivals Bevin Reed & Jayden vd Merwe, with Bevin again taking the honours by way of a 1-0 victory, thanks to a fiercely struck shot into Jayden's right hand top corner of the goal! In the Plate Section, all players were level on 1 point each after Round 1 matches produced two 0-0 results. Round 2 of the Plate Section then produced the big upset of the day as newcomer Neilon Waterson defeated Adam Murray by 1-0! Round 3 of the Open Section produced a 5 goal thriller which ended Jayden vd Merwe 2 v 3 Chessray Jooste - a result which certainly dampened Jayden's aspirations on the day!
To ensure all players got to play 5 matches on the day, Rounds 4 & 5 were decided by random draw with match-ups "across the two sections". As was expected, Kegan vd Merwe was setting the pace in the Plate Section - he secured the prize as Plate Winner in Round 4, when he had to come from behind to win 2-1 against Julian vd Merwe. Certainly a well deserved and morale boosting achievement for Kegan on the day!
Match 20 saw Kegan vd Merwe go down by 1-0 to Chessray Jooste - the result inflicted Kegan's only loss of the day, but the result was what Chessray needed to tie Bevin on 9 points overall and force the Open Section into a Final Play-Off match. In the final, Chessray relied on his attacking play (which was sound throughout the day) but Bevin's defence held firm. Bevin then struck with a swift counter attack down the right flank, moving the play to the centre to strike with a fierce low shot to win the match 1-0 and take the honours of 2016 Pretoria Open Champion! The triumph for Bevin Reed marks the capture of his 5th WASPA title to date - congratulations to Bevin for reaching this milestone!
Thanks to all for attending and making the day a success once again !!
Standings - Open Section
Bevin Reed
Chessray Jooste
Jayden van der Merwe
Julian van der Merwe
Standings - Plate Section
Kegan van der Merwe
Adam Murray
Nielon Waterson
Webster Morris
The PFC website & facebook page will be updated shortly with photo's & news content at :
http://pfctest.leaguerepublic.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PFC-SA/519566284755728
(Report by Julian vd Merwe)
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