The Gap women’s Premier League side won its second successive grand final with a hard fought 3-1 win over Peninsula Power at Heath Park last weekend.

In an exciting and, at times, spiteful match, The Gap showed tremendous character to overcome the premiers.

It was a tough battle and The Gap was lucky to finish the game with 11 players as Peninsula’s noted no-nonsense tacklers Sasha MacDonald and Kara Mowbray kept reminding Gap players they were in a final.

In fact, The Gap’s Susie McKeen played the final 20 minutes on one leg as all subs had been made. At full-time Megan Price, Alex Nelson, Lara Boon and Courtney Beutel joined Susie on the injured list with a variety of swollen knees, ankles and faces.

Smiling faces, though.

Despite their injuries all pushed through the pain barrier to make significant contributions to the magnificent victory.

Despite the scoreline the game was close. In fact, the first half probably belonged to Peninsula as The Gap struggled to control their athletic and combative midfield.

Constant Peninsula pressure made it difficult for The Gap to assert its style on the game.

“Our passing out of midfield was not quick enough in the first half and it failed to open up the game so that we would have the space to create opportunities,” said assistant coach Rob Askew.

“Peninsula’s approach to playing The Gap all season is to pressure us when we have the ball so that we cannot play our usual game and this largely worked for them in the first half.”

But it was The Gap who took the lead in the first half through a well-taken Courtney Beutel goal. In the 20th minute a ball was played into Tosh Roma at head high. Showing great awareness, Tosh flicked the ball on and Courtney hit the accelerator to power past the Peninsula defence.

One-on-one with the Peninsula keeper Aleisha Catchpole, Courtney opted to around her. But the keeper managed to get a leg to the ball, however, the rebound cannoned back off Courtney’s legs and she had an easy tap in.

“In our last fixture against Peninsula we had no luck and Peninsula had it all,” Rob said. “This time the luck went our way.”

The Gap benefited in the first half when two Peninsula breakaways resulted in two good chances hitting the post.

These were the only chances to fall to Peninsula in the half due to a magnificent defensive effort from The Gap back four of Lori Cramer, Carolyne Drummond, Alex Nelson and Annie Whalley.

Half-time: The Gap 1, Peninsula Power 0.

The half-time talk emphasised the need to control the first crucial 15 minutes of the second half and for the passing to be more efficient from midfield.

To their credit, the girls delivered with not only better passing and control of the game but with a superb second goal.

Fifteen minutes into the second half striker Tosh Roma received the ball from midfield on the halfway line.

A clever bent run to the left from Courtney Beutel drew the Peninsula defence’s minds to the left side.

Toshie, showing great awareness, feinted left but pushed the ball to the right of the defender. She put the foot down and raced past the Peninsula defence.

With everything to do Tosh picked her spot from 18 metres and at full stride placed the ball in the top right hand corner of the net.

“I have been watching Toshie since she was 12 years old and this was the best goal I have seen her score,” Rob said. “I thought it was world-class and a tribute to a great Gap player.

“It topped off a good week for her after winning the Football Brisbane Player of the Season.”

The game developed into an arm-wrestle and Peninsula frustration started to show with some nasty tackles – one of which saw Megan Price substituted and another when Courtney Beutel was ruthlessly cut down.

The Gap showed superb discipline to rise above the spite and stay focussed on the task at hands.

With four minutes to go and victory looking more and more certain an unfortunate tackle left Peninsula defender Nat Matthews seriously hurt. An ambulance was called and a long delay ensued.

The delay may have compromised the Gap’s concentration and this message was conveyed to the girls.

However, there was no stopping The Gap as almost instantly after the restart The Gap scored a third goal.

A tremendous pass from Tosh Roma released Courtney Beutel who once again rounded the keeper to slot home. The Gap, sensing victory, started celebrating prematurely.

An uncharacteristic lapse in concentration by a Gap defender saw Kara Mowbray rob The Gap of the ball and race away to score a consolation goal.

This was not the end though as Gap complacency nearly made a game of it again when sloppy passing saw Peninsula almost grab a second goal in injury time.

However, it was not to be and The Gap safely negotiated the remaining time to earn a well deserved grand final victory and a $1,000 bonus from Football Brisbane.

“It was a magnificent performance from all the girls,” Rob said.

“It would be easy to say that the strikers won this game but the victory was based on a tremendous performance from the back five and midfield, who really battled hard.

“This was a tough ask as it was a spirited and combative match. I was so proud of the girls because of the discipline they showed while Peninsula disintegrated.

“Great football and character are the pillars we build things on at The Gap and the girls showed it in spades.

“For me, I can say without hesitation that it was my greatest moment at The Gap and a perfect way to go out. Thanks girls.”

MEANWHILE, the Women’s Premier Reserves were beaten 6-2 by Peninsula Power in the grand final.

However, the premiership winning under-16 division 1 girls scored a resounding 8-2 grand final win over Mt Gravatt and the club’s under-12 div 3 girls defeated Deception Bay 1-0 in the grand final.