TEN fantastic and very nervous Bowral Bandicoots players took to the field to battle the mighty undefeated Burrawang in the under-9s hockey grand final last weekend.
All year the courageous Bandicoots played with the bare 10, having no substitutes or fill in players, but they held their own all year.
Bowral started the grand final strongly from the first whistle, with Prue Seeley and Lucinda Knowles, marking their players and tackling the opposition to gain play.
Emma Brown and Lucy Stein led the field on the wings, stretching the play and giving the Bandicoots much needed forward momentum.
Skye Golding in the midfield, along with Lara Frost smashed balls through for the forwards to work with.
The Bandicoots found their mark in the first 15 minutes when an outstanding hit from Lara Frost, resulted in Higginson Blaik scoring an awesome goal.
Burrawang fought back hard and strong, keen to take the lead back off Bowral.
But the Bandicoots had their secret weapons hidden in the backs with Katherine Bowrey, Monique Bernie and Kelsea Bernie ready and willing to defend like never before.
Bowral’s backs held on for the remainder of the game, protecting their goal and making Burrawang work for possession.
The Bandicoots won 1-0, a result that showed their hard work all throughout the year and the coaching support of Peter Frost and Fran Golding.