Northcote City and Sandringham claimed maiden Victorian Premier League (VPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) titles in dramatic fashion at the weekend.
Down 2-1 early in extra time against Bentleigh Greens, Northcote City pulled off a stunning comeback on the back of goals to Milos Lujic and Marinos Gasparis and the dismissal of Bentleigh substitute Luke Pilkington to prevail 3-2 at AAMI Park.
Northcote City coach Goran Lozanovski was ecstatic with the victory.
“We worked hard all year long to try and finish in the top three or even first, and we did that, so we achieved one target,” Lozanovski said.
“The next one was the grand final and we did that. So the third one was to win it and hold up.
“I dare say from Round 1 no one gave us a chance at Northcote City and full credit to the players.”
Lujic was awarded the Jimmy Rooney medal for his best-on-ground performance, while Bentleigh was left to rue a missed penalty and other glorious chances in the first half.
Womens Premier League:
After a scoreless 90 minutes, the WPL Grand Final seemed destined for extra time until Nicola Prins scored for Sandringham in the 94th minute to spark wild celebrations.
Prins’ goal sealed an elusive double for Sandringham in 2013 after it won the Women’s State Knockout Cup against South Melbourne Women – the same opponent in yesterday’s grand final – in June with the same scoreline.
Sandringham dedicated its grand final win to late president John Hurley, who passed away before the weekend.
“I’m pretty happy, and really not for myself but for my players,” an elated Sandringham coach Shaun Parton said after the match.
“It’s 10 months of hard work and it all comes down to one game so I have some sympathy for South Melbourne, but a few things fell our way today which is nice.
“During the week we’ve had a few things that haven’t fallen our way with the sad death of John Hurley and all the girls have dedicated this victory to him because he was a great man for our club.”
South Melbourne winger Jessica Au was awarded the best-on-ground medal.
Read a full match report in Neos Kosmos’ Saturday edition.
