Played at a fast pace from the opening whistle, the Blues took an early lead via Alex Smith to kick-start celebrations. In a hard fought midfield battle throughout the second period, the Blues took their best chance of the half via captain Richard Luksic, doubling the side’s lead and securing a second trophy for 2011 for the Blues following the Premiership win.
Blues coach Peter Tsekenis had David Gullo cleared of his ankle injury to take to the field, meanwhile Luksic was played out on the left with Brett Studman teaming up with Ibrahim Haydar in the middle. On the half hour, Sydney Olympic threatened the Reds goal from distance. Alex Smith’s neat header into the path of Chris Triantis allowed the midfielder time to line up his shot, though from an acute angle, Chris Triantis skewed his effort wide of Janjetovic’s goal. Peter Triantis displayed his engine capabilities with a tireless performance throughout the 90 minutes.
The young midfielder was immense alongside Phil Makrys in breaking down the Reds forward movements, and equally as impressive on the ball. Chris Triantis pressed forward down the right-flank for the Blues on 38 minutes with a bursting run past his marker before his centred attempt was cleared by Michael Cindric. The Blues doubled their advantage in the 52nd as captain Richard Luksic made the most of some slack marking at the back post. Gullo’s centre crossed the entire penalty-area and into the path of the tall defender who had the easiest of tasks to head home into an empty net.
Blues coach Peter Tsekenis was ecstatic following the trophy presentation: “There isn’t much I can say, very happy with the result, even though I don’t think it has actually sunk in yet,” explained Tsekenis. “We made the grand-final after a great season, and we’ve managed to win it – and I feel we did it very well today with a great performance. “Sydney United did come at us after conceding the goal, though we knew how to handle it. ‘Hendo’ made a great save and we fought hard, we knew how to suffer in that period, and then went about our game – that is what grand-final football is about at times.
“I don’t think the performance was a polished one, though for a final that is required at times and I am happy with how we performed. “Grand-finals are won when everyone pulls their weight, and today all the boys did this so the club is very pleased,” concluded Tsekenis.
