1997 Ottawa Cup Final Match Report

Steve Ball gets a hand to a Falcons' strike

Ottawa Cup Final, Saturday August 23, 1997

Royals 2 (Foley 29, Woolridge 88) -- Falcons 0 - HT 1-0

• Roddy McFall takes an incisive look at the treble double

It has been said that, just as the tide ebbs and flows, so do footballing hegemonies come and go. With that thought in mind, a plucky Falcons team undertook to catch a Royals team -- so dominant locally for so many years -- on a bad day.

The Ottawa Cup Final at Terry Fox was to witness the dismantling of a once-proud team, aging gracefully but essentially rudderless following manager James Patrick Walker's shock move to northwest London in early August. With caretaker manager Graeme Weeks and stand-in first team coach Fred Juett at the helm, the Royals would absorb the almost perfunctory early pressure from the Falcons, then strike out just when it seemed that the pretenders from Nepean had a chance. In the twenty-ninth minute, David Foley punished the Falcons by cheekily knocking the ball of a Falcons defender for the first Royals goal. The Falcons did create some chances. At every turn, however, keeper Stevie Ball was at his best; facing five good chances, making five sound saves.

It was clear that, in this match bereft of the passion on display in Tuesday's semi-final versus the Royals Seconds, the Falcons had no replies, none to offer. It was left to Fred Juett -- playing in possibly his final Ottawa Cup Final -- to create the inevitable second goal. Closing down a Falcons defender in the eighty-eighth minute, Juett casually dispossessed the hapless right-back, brought the ball into the eighteen-yard box, and unselfishly passed to ball to Wooldridge, who surprisingly opted to slot the ball home with his left foot.

Another year, another two domestic trophies. The hegemony continues... Man-of-the-Match: Steve Ball

Royals Team: Ball; Nera, Weeks, Walsh, M.Lauter; Foley, Juett, D.McFall (Taylor), Wooldridge (R. McFall); Cragg, Saxberg

• The 1996 Cup Final Report
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