The 2016 Lachlan All Ace Mens grand final was played last Sunday on a wet afternoon in Parkes.
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Minor Premiers Tichborne Tigers took on Parkes Raptors in 1st division.
In the 5th minute of the game a long ball out of the Raptors half plugged in the water and stopped with Scott Knights able to win the race to the ball which he lifted over the stranded Tigers keeper Sean Noble to give the Raptors a dream start.
The Tigers response came 6 minutes later when Hayden Fletcher put a high ball into the Raptors 6 yard box and Mitch Hutchings out jumped the defence and the keeper to get the Tigers on the score sheet.
Play settled a bit as the rain continued to fall and conditions worsened.
A long range shot from Alec Bateson was goal bound only for Hugh Mackenzie to dive full stretch to his left and push wide.
The Tigers continued to attack and won a corner on the half hour when Josh Smede landed his kick in the six yard box, which had alarm bells ringing for the Raptors defence and the ball came free for Alec Bateson to score 2-1 Tigers.
Half time was blown with the team talk all about keeping the commitment going, body on the line and attacking the ball.
The second half started well for the Tigers with Justin Ward and Andrew Bourke putting pressure on the defence and the Tigers winning a corner.
This time Alec Bateson took the corner and just like the first half it was stacks on the mill in the Raptors goal mouth and Hayden Fletcher netted, Tigers 3 Raptors 1.
The Raptors came back into the contest when Jarrod McDean scored after good lead up work from Joel Cowling.
The Tigers started to rotate the bench with Josh Davison coming back into the game giving players a chance for a break.
Steven Bateson made an appearance as the Tigers went in for the kill.
It was Alec Bateson who spotted the keeper off his line and from 35 metres gave the Tigers a 4-2 lead.
Again back game the Raptors and they attacked the Tigers defence.
A miss kick off the side of Josh Smede’s boot and it was 4-3 Tigers, with 5 minutes to go.
Some strong defence from Luke Swindle,, Brett Hutchings and Matt Swindle the Tigers held on to win 4-3.
“That is a great effort from my lads, to go down early and fight back, with great blokes like Harley Harmer who gave 100 per cent which lifted the whole team,” Tigers coach Steven Bateson said following the match.
At the presentation Alec Bateson was name a well deserved player of the final.
Tigers captain Matt Swindle acccepted the Premiers Plate and thanked the officials who controlled the game in trying conditions and praised all 29 players who player in the match for their great effort.
Both teams returned to the Tigers watering hole the Parkes Town Bowling and Sports Club for a drink and were seen together on Monday showing great sportsmanship.
This bring an end to the 2016 season Tichborne Tigers would like to thank their sponsors the Parkes Town Bowling and Sports Club, Brian Collins Smash Repairs and NJ Constructions and also the Parkes Champion Post for our match reports.
See you next season and go the “Tichy Tigers”.
