Showing their Spurs
North End faithful enjoy hot thriller
Parkridge-based Swaraj produced swashbuckling and exhilarating team performances to win the 2019 East London Central LFA 6th Edition Mark Alexander-sponsored Premier Top 8 competition on Sunday at the North End Stadium.
They beat five-times Premier Top 8 finalist and three times winners of this event Riverside 2-1 in a gripping final.
It was the gold and black’s fourth premier silverware since the Football Association’s inception in 2013.
Defending Premier Top champions Seagulls suffered a shock first round exit, going down 2-0 to Riverside. Swaraj started their campaign with a 2-1 victory against last season’s finalist DiRoma, while Prides beat Parkside United 2-1. Napoli caused the biggest upset of the first round when they beat reigning premier league champions Star of India 4-2 on penalties after their match ended 1-1 at fulltime.
Newlands-based Napoli however ran out of steam in their semifinal against Swaraj, going down 4-1. Riverside booked their place in the final after a 4-2 penalty shootout win against Prides after their match ended goalless. Riverside keeper Kurwin Cassels won the day with two sublime saves in the shootout to set up a repeat of the 2016 Premier Top 8 cup final against Swaraj. On that day Riverside won.
Swaraj, however, turned the tables this time as they recorded a hard-fought 2-1 win against their old nemesis, with new Swaraj signing Ivandre Campbell the star of the show, netting on either side of halftime despite Damian Botha’s reprieve in levelling matters for Riverside in the first half. In the curtain-raiser Prides won the third and fourth place playoffs beating Napoli 5-0.