THE Swan Hill men’s soccer team are through to their third straight Bendigo Amateur Soccer League Division 2 Super Cup grand final, after outlasting a gallant Golden City in extra time on Sunday.
Having gone through the home-and-away season unbeaten, the Swans were made to earn the win in their knockout final, coming from 2-1 down in the first half to claim a 4-3 win.
Swan Hill’s Cooper Fox was the hero for the Swans, with the captain scoring the matchwinning goal with two minutes remaining in the second extra time, avoiding the need for penalties.
The Swans took the lead early in the first half through Stephen Whittaker, before Golden City wrestled back the momentum with the next two goals, leaving Swan Hill supporters fearing the worst.
An equaliser from leading goal scorer Conner Brown then levelled the score just before half-time, leaving the scores locked at 2-2.
It ended a poor first half from the ladder leaders, with Swan Hill coach Tony Di Palma thankful his team were able to turn their fortunes around after the break.
“In the first half we were pretty ordinary to be honest, we were really flat even though we scored, we just weren’t ourselves,” Di Palma told The Guardian.
“I’m not sure if it was the trip away, or being finals, or we hadn’t played for a few weeks, but the boys just weren’t up to the same level that we have shown throughout the season.
“Our possession wasn’t there and our passing wasn’t right, but the second half was a total turnaround, the boys just went out there and did everything right and played the way that Swan Hill plays.
“We played like that throughout the whole half and even though our boys were a bit flat after (Golden City) equalised so close to full time, we were able to regroup, stay positive and came out with the same attitude in extra time.”
Cooper Fox scored the first of his two goals shortly after half-time to once again give Swan Hill the lead, before Golden City’s Harrison Morley ensured the game went for an extra 30 minutes when he scored in the 87th minute of the match.
“ (Golden City) were there to win, they took it right up to us and were in many ways a totally different team to the one we had played previously,” Di Palma said.
“We hit the bar three times in the second half of extra time, so were very unlucky.
“Their goalkeeper was outstanding, but ‘Rizza’ (Riley McCosh) was brilliant for us, he made some fantastic saves.
“They played really well, but our boys rose to the occasion and dug deep, especially in the last half of extra time.”
The win means the Swans now progress to this Sunday’s BASL Division 2 Super Cup grand final, where they will play La Trobe University Red following their 3-1 win over Strathfieldsaye Colts United.
It will be the third time in as many seasons that Swan Hill has reached the season decider, with the Swans out for revenge after La Trobe University defeated them 4-2 in last year’s grand final.
For Di Palma, his team’s undefeated season will count for little on Sunday, with the Swans wanting to add the Super Cup title to their BASL Division 2 championship.
“Now that the boys have played in that semi-final, we know what to expect and we won’t be taking any team for granted,” Di Palma said.
“We’ll do our recovery early in the week and then focus on our game plan later in the week.
“We’ll be playing with a bit more possession and taking a bit more time though I think, we don’t need to hurry the game up which we probably did a bit too much on the weekend.
“Both teams played flat out and I think if we had of settled a little bit earlier in the first half, I think it would have been played a little bit more on our terms, and that’s what we’re going to try to work on for this week.
“We just need to slow down the game, keep possession and get our passes spot on, but more than that, we need to make sure our attitude is right because if we have the right attitude as a team, we’ll be hard to stop.”
