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KNYSNA FOOTBALL NEWS - Four divisions of the 2019 Oyster Festival Soccer Tournament concluded on Sunday 30 June, with FC United defeating underdogs CX Swallows on penalties to clinch the open men's trophy.
The Oyster Fest's soccer action kicked off long before the festival itself actually began, with a clash between Crossroads and CX Celtics getting the tournament under way.
The 24 teams in the open men's tournament played a 24-match round robin tournament that decided who would progress to the Round of 16, which commenced on 25 June.
After 39 matches and four rounds of action, the open men's tournament finally came to an end on 30 June along with three of the other divisions that form part of the Oyster Fest action – the U17 Division, the Industrial Division and the Women's Division.
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Other finals
The final day's proceedings kicked off on the Hornlee community sports fields with the U17 final taking place between Voota FC and Eleven Attackers.
The two sides were inseparable in regular time, and needed penalties to decide the result, with Eleven Attackers emerging 5-3 victors after penalties.
The next final would be the Industrial Division final, a clash between Food Lover's Market and Simola Golf and Country Estate, which brought about the only regular-time goals of the day. The two sides stood at 1-1 after regular time, but Simola emerged victorious 3-2 after penalties.
Thereafter came the women's final, contested by Southern Stars and Lidz United. This brought about yet another goalless draw after regular time, with Plettenberg Bay side Lidz able to clinch the win 5-3 after penalties.
Open men's final
Finally, the open men's final kicked off shortly after 16:00 to end off the day's action, with SAB League side FC United the favourites to take the win against CX Swallows, who lie ninth in the Knysna Local Football Association domestic league.
This didn't deter the underdogs from putting up a strong fight however, as they managed to muster up the first shot on target of the game, as well as the first corner of the game.
The match was much more hotly contested than the rest that were played during the day, with six yellow cards handed out altogether during the encounter.
The match once again ended goalless, but the two sides provided a dramatic penalty shootout for spectators.
CX Swallows had converted all four of their penalties, and if their penalty taker simply converted his, they would have clinched the title. But, he instead blasted his penalty wide despite sending the keeper the wrong way.
The shootout then went into sudden death, and FC United eventually emerged 9-8 victors thanks to a save from their goalkeeper Mbangi Sinesipho, which decided the game.
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