After dominating the first leg but failing to score the Bears were keen to break the tie with an early goal but it was Phoenix who opened the scoring in the extremely windy conditions when they beat the offside trap and went onto put the ball past Bears keeper Tim Pratt after only 17 minutes.
Due to the first leg finishing in a 0-0 draw and also now that Phoenix had scored meant the Bears would have to win the game to progress to the Grand Final. Nathan Morris made the task look possible when he whipped his curling free kick into the goal from the left hand corner of the Phoenix box after 27 mins to square the score at 1-1.
After the sluggish start the Bears were now stamping their authority on the game with far more possession and they almost took the lead through a fantastic switch of play from the left in the 33rd min. Jamie Subat started the play when he found space behind the defence before cutting back infield and played a fantastic ball to Robbie Turnbull who hit his shot from the edge of the box that failed to dip in time and narrowly missed the goal.
Nathan Morris was troubling Phoenix with his pin point free kicks and in the 39th min he provided a free kick that again put the Phoenix defence in 2 minds which lead to Mick Ryan pouncing on the ball. Ryan then drilled his shot through the crowded goal mouth and into the net for a 2-1 lead 6 mins before the half time break.
Phoenix came out of the sheds after the break and pressured the Bears with a couple of half chances that were snuffed out by the desperate Bears defence.
After the initial Phoenix pressure the Bears once again started to come into their own and in the 62nd minute they produced some great football that saw them string a number of passes together before the ball ended up with Jamie Subat whose well hit shot was caught in the blustery wind and failed to hit the target.
The Bears were lucky to maintain their lead 6 mins later when a Phoenix shot took a huge deflection and narrowly spun past the post for a goal kick.
Nathan Morris was playing some fantastic balls into the Phoenix defence and he again forced the Phoenix keeper to produce a fantastic save by tipping the ball out for a corner in the 69th minute. Morris again stepped up to take the resulting corner and this time found the head of Chris Cousins. Cousins climbed well on the back post to head a goal and give them a 3-1 lead to send the Bears into the Grand Final.
The Grand Final will be played at Wanderers Oval Broadmeadow next Sunday with kick off at the earlier time of 2:00pm. As mentioned earlier the Grand Final will be played against the side that every Bears supporter loves to hate, Edgeworth.
CMON YOU BEARS, BRING HOME THE CUP!!!!!!!!!
