It’s down to the play-off rounds for the National Premier League championships all across Australia and most of the Greek clubs have dropped out of the race at this point. Still refusing to give up however is Brisbane Olympic.

They were able to defeat the regular season champions Queensland Lions, scoring an impressive 1-2 away victory to advance to the Grand Final.

The home side took the lead, but the visitors held on to their defensive formation, looking for the goal on the counter.

That came at the most crucial of times, with Jez Lofthouse taking advantage of a clever back pass by Shelford Dais, who had found himself deep in the Lions defence, to score the equaliser a few moments before the referee blew his whistle to end the first 45 minutes.

Their spirits shattered, the Lions came back out for the second half looking nothing like the team that easily took first place on the ladder and Ben Cahn’s men were not going to let this opportunity pass them by.

After a series of wasted opportunities, the goal that decided the encounter finally came on the 77th minute, when a cross by Steve Whyte found the head of an unmanned Chris Lucas who had no issue heading the ball past the keeper to give his team a place in the final.

Brisbane Olympic become the only team in Queensland to achieve back-to-back qualification to the final and after last season’s loss they will be looking to take home the trophy.

In other games around Australia, Floreat Athina’s efforts were stopped in the semi-final, after they eliminated Balcatta in the last eight, unable to overcome the obstacle of Perth, losing 2-1. The situation was the same in the capital, where Canberra Olympic fell to Gungahlin at home 1-2 in the semis.

For the final round of the regular season in Tasmania, the Olympia Warriors trounced Launceston 5-2, finishing their season in second place.

BRISBANE OLYMPIC
Result: v Queensland Lions (A) 1-2 (33′ Reardon – 45’+2′ Lofthouse, 77′ Lucas)
Position in NPL QLD: 4th (28 mp, 57 pts)
Next opponent: Gold Coast Knights (A, Grand Final)

FLOREAT ATHINA
Result: v Perth SC (A) 2-1 (40′ Santich, 120′ Sabatini – 46′ Evans)
Position in NPL WA: 3rd (22 mp, 37 pts)
Next opponent: –

CANBERRA OLYMPIC
Result: v Gungahlin (H) 1-2 (63′ Piccolo – 84′ Green, 88′ pen. Habtemariam)
Position in NPL CT: 1st (16 mp, 37 pts)
Next opponent: –

OLYMPIA WARRIORS
Result: v Launceston (H) 5-2
Position in NPL TAS: 2nd (24 mp, 56 pts)
Next opponent: –