Before the start of the final playoff game against Volvo FC
Before the start of the final playoff game against Volvo FC
on Sunday June 9th 2013, August Town knew that a return to the Red Stripe Premier League rest in their own hands. The equation was a pretty simple one, beat Volvo, a team with nothing to play for and the result between, already qualified Rivoli and third placed Wadadah, would mean nothing to them.
A simple as that was, the tension in the air at the August Town home field at the UWI Mona Bowl, was palpable. Nervous faces on the bench told the story. The loss, the week before to Rivoli at home had dented the confidence in the camp somewhat.
The first ten minutes of play from August Town reflected the mood in the camp, missed placed passes and players shouting at each other to lift their game. But then they started to get a grip on the match and created the first clear opening when Lennox Creary found himself free in the box in the 14th minute but missed a sitter that would have put his team 1-0 up.
To their credit, the heads of the August Town players did not drop and the Volvo custodian did well to push a good low drive around the post for a corner in the 25th minute. The pressure was mounting and it finally told five minutes later when Creary made amends for his earlier miss.
August Town were awarded a free kick about 24 yards from goal and the midfielder stepped up to curl the ball into the back of the net much to the joy and relief of his teammates and the August Town supporters.
For their part Volvo had barely mustered two efforts on target as it was clear that the game was one too many for most of the players on the field.
The second half didn’t produce many special moments by either team and as the game wore on the anxiety started to show in the play of the home team who desperately wanted to hear the final whistle.
Donovan Miller of Volvo could have made the situation more uncomfortable for August Town had he not missed one of the very few chances his team created, when he headed over the bar from point blank range, deep into stoppage time.
The celebrations that greeted the final whistle shortly after were more of relief than anything else as the home fans basked in a return of their team to the nation’s top flight.
Speaking after the win, August Town coach Christopher Bender said “we have done this right through the qualifiers, once we score I don’t think we’ll give up a goal, at no point did we look like we would give up a goal, although sometimes we looked a little nervous.”
He also explained coping with the last 45 minutes while hanging on to a one goal lead, “At times you get a little anxious in terms of, you don’t want a goal score it could affect the moral of the team, because we’ve been winning in terms of the qualifiers a number of times 1-0 quite a few times and its nerve racking for the players, but again you want to score you want to get in front and we were in front and we were sure in terms of our defending.”
August Town last played in the Premier League in the 2010-2011 season when they spent one season before being demoted.
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