WHITSUNDAY UNITED – DOUBLE Grand Final Winners!

In a fairy tale ending to the season, both the Premier Men and Women Whitsunday sides took stunning victories in front of hundreds of loyal fans that travelled to Mackay to see the dream come true and history books re-written for the club.

The Women took the field first knowing it would be a hard-fought game against the undefeated Premiership winners Mackay Lions.

Although there was nothing between the two sides, Lions narrowly defeated Whitsunday twice during the season and the two teams played out a draw.

Whitsundays started the game strongly, maintaining most of the possession and pressuring the Lions defence in the first half.

Eventually their patience paid off in the 34th minute with Eva getting on the end of a corner ball put in by Willow.

It took work but with supreme poise Eva managed to place it out of the keepers reach.

The second half saw Lions come out determined to make the goal back.

However, it was Whitsundays who again broke through first with Akema getting on the end of a through-ball by Steph to put one past the keeper from the edge of the box.

Lions weren’t going away and with renewed effort, struck back almost immediately.

They kept the pressure and enthusiasm back and managed to get the equaliser inside the last 10 minutes of the game, sending the game into extra time.

Both teams fought hard for the next 30 minutes, however neither could break the deadlock and the game went to penalties.

Both keepers did well to save the first shots by each team however for Whitsundays Willow, Akema and Lauren put the next three into the net.

Lions missed their fourth penalty leaving it up to our goal keeper Chloe to put the fifth shot away and clinch the game.

The shot wasn’t successful however the Lions keeper was deemed to have come off her line meaning Chloe had a second chance.

Showing nerves of steel, her second shot didn’t miss, winning the grand final for Whitsundays.

A huge congratulations to all the girls and coach Peter on a fantastic season and well deserved Grand Final Victory.

The Premier Men took the field against Magpies as hot favourites but knowing that the Magpies were one team that could really trouble them.

From the outset, the Magpies took the fight to Whitsunday and by pressing hard and fast, the relentless pressure took its toll on the free-flowing Whitsunday game.

A penalty in the first 10 minutes put the Magpies in front which put extra pressure on our boys.

The ball just wasn’t bouncing Whitsunday’s way and frustration was beginning to creep in as Magpies kept up the high tempo pressure, however opportunities for both sides were few.

In a tense affair, Whitsunday slowly started to turn the tide and string some plays together.

When some fresh players came on in the final quarter, Whitsunday exploded and in a flurry of attacking plays, Harry Hodgen put away the equaliser in the 76th minutes and 90 seconds later, Ollie Mitchell scored the winning goal giving the Men’s the double – both winning the Premiership and the Grand Final – repeating last year’s efforts.

An unbelievable evening for Whitsunday United.

‍

Whitsunday United cheering their win. Photos supplied

‍