Saturday saw the inaugural Derby Down Under between the Australasian Branch of the ITFC Supporters Club and their Norwich City counterparts, Canaries Down Under. Ed Parker, chairman of the Australasian Branch, talks us through another famous Town derby victory.
On a brilliant sunny Sydney Saturday afternoon, early season bragging rights were up for grabs as diehard supporters of Ipswich and Norwich were drafted in from as far a field as Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Woolongong and even a couple of Canaries from New Zealand to play in the first ever Derby Down Under.
On a pitch that left a bit to be desired, what some of the players lacked in skill, youth and fitness was more than compensated by determined enthusiasm and a good turn-out from both sides ensured that there was a constant rotation of players through the subs bench.
Town opened the scoring going 2-0 up before being pegged back to 2-2. Another burst of goals saw the Blues 4-2 up at the break.
But Norwich wouldn’t take that lying down, bringing themselves back into the game at 4-4.
Leo Chandiok thought he had scored the winner to put Town 5-4 ahead and the Blues tried to hold on for victory before conceding in the last minute. A minute that seemed to last for ever.
A hard-fought draw that was played in a respectful spirit. We agreed that none of us could handle playing extra-time and so we went straight to penalties.
After trying to find the exact location of the penalty spot, a nerve-wracking few minutes saw Town keeper Ollie Smith save one and Town score all five of theirs to win the penalty shootout 5-3.
There was a wonderful feeling of camaraderie between the two sets of players and supporters and plans are afoot to make the game an annual event.
Mark Larwood, co-founder of Canaries Down Under, tweeted after the match, "Massive congratulations to all those who helped make today great.”
The game also aimed to raise funds and awareness for our respective causes, the Norwich Community Sports Foundation, the Australian mental health charity Beyond Blue and the George Woodward Fund.
Photos: Helene Chandiok