The top Paralympic Football players of Australia were in New South Wales to participate in the 11th National Paralympic 7-A-Side Football Championships last week. South Australia was represented by 10 hard work players including two Pararoos players. 

Day 1 – South Australia vs NSW

South Australia was not intimidated by the powerful NSW who came out with all guns blazing in this match with 5 current PARAROOS starting the match. Sadly, an nasty injury has forced Tom Goodman to come off the field and NSW took the chance and scored a beautiful goal. The experience of the NSW team was obvious as they scored three more times in the first half.

On the second half NSW showed that they have a huge depth of players and they scored another 4 goals rotating all 14 players.

Final Score – NSW (8) def South Australia (0)  

Day 2 – South Australia vs Western Australia

This was another very close match between two very even sides and it ended up being on a single goal between the two sides.

Goalkeeper Tim Moore did a fantastic job by saving South Australia in many occasions throughout the game.

Thomas Goodman scored a beautiful goal from outside the box for the South Australians midway through the second half.

Final Score:        South Australia (1) def Western Australia (0) 

SA Scorer:           Thomas Goodman

Day 3 – South Australia vs Victoria 

South Australia took an early lead in the 15 ^th minute of the game due to a goal from PARAROOS player Thomas Goodman.  They continued to press the Victorian’s but were not able to increase their lead any further during the first half.

With on 3 minutes on the clock into the second half Thomas Goodman doubled his goals for the match when he slipped another one past the Victorian keeper.  This was soon followed up by another goal to South Australia in the 44 ^th minute when James Von Stanke got his first goal of the tournament.

South Australia looked home at this stage leading 3 – Nil but more action was to come as Victoria scored in the 53 ^rd and 55 ^th   minute with goals to Ben Roche and Cameron Gudgeon.  This made for a great last 5 minutes as the Victorian’s tried to get the equaliser.  The South Australians kept the possesion of the ball at the final minutes securing their second victory.

It was the very first time in the history of South Australian Paralympic Football they have got six points in Nationals. Well done !!!

Final Score:         South Australia 3 def Western Australia 2 

SA Scorers:         Thomas Goodman (2), James Von Stanke

 Day 3 – South Australia vs Queensland

What a way to finish the rounds of the tournament as the winner of this match would go on to meet NSW in the gold medal match. 

This was a very important game as SA has never been that close to make the gold medal match.

The first half was the true tussle you would have expected for two teams trying to make the final.  No inch was given by either side and there was some hefty clashes between the two teams. 

It wasn’t until the 36 ^th minute that the deadlock was broken through a goal to Queensland’s Robbie Christie.  QLD then doubled their lead in the 45 ^th minute with a goal to Jarrod Larkins-Law.  From there you could see the South Australian team were spent and they conceded another 3 goals in the last 5 minutes.

Final Score:         Queensland 5 def South Australia (0) 

Bronze Medal Match -  South Australia  vs  Victoria

It was a very competitive game between the eternal rivals South Australians and Victorians. Despite the fact that South Australia had most of the possesion of the ball, the Victorian captain managed to scored a classy goal with his left foot.

In the second half, Ryan Kinner, the promising young player from South Australia, was hit hard by an opposition and had to be carried out of the field. After that, the South Australians tried hard and almost scored a couple of times. But it was the Victorians that scored the next goal and winning the bronze medal. 

The future of South Australia is promising with a very young and talented squad. Ryan Kinner was selected the Player of the Tournament and also selected to represent Australia in the Under 19's competition next year.