Green Gully players celebrate a second successive VPL title. 69919 Picture: EMILY LANE
By Dejan Kalinic
GREEN Gully Cavaliers secured back-to-back Victorian Premier League titles with an entertaining 3-2 win after extra time against the Oakleigh Cannons in the grand final at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Half-time substitute Hamid Basma hit a match-winning brace after the Cavaliers went into the break 2-1 down on Saturday.
Captain Jeffrey Fleming had given them the lead before Oakleigh playmaker Hayden Doyle and striker Ricky Diaco put the Cannons ahead in the first half. But Basma proved to be the game-breaker, netting the winner in the fifth minute of extra time.
Midfielder Stephen Downes collected the Jimmy Rooney Medal for a standout display.
The championship win was coach Ian Dobson’s seventh state title as boss, to go with his National Soccer League crown, and a record ninth for Green Gully, going one clear of South Melbourne.
Oakleigh put the star-studded Cavaliers midfield under pressure and had the best early chance with Diaco smashing the post after Doyle played him behind the defence.
The Cannons dominated the opening 15 minutes and midfielder Frankie Lagana’s 25-yard volley forced Gully’s Nikola Roganovic into a save to his right.
But against the run of play, Gully went ahead thanks to Fleming on 23 minutes.
Downes turned three Cannons opponents in the middle of the park before hitting a wonderful dipping effort against the bar, only for Fleming’s volley to be deflected into the bottom corner.
Oakleigh hit back two minutes later as Diaco played a short pass to Doyle, who slid a shot under the advancing Roganovic.
The Cavaliers conceded a second five minutes later, with Diaco using his strength to hold off defender Mile Medjedovic and place home a fine individual effort.
Oakleigh struggled in attack after taking the lead and it was punished seven minutes after half time as Basma converted in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Peter Zois.
Gully midfielder Jonathan Munoz and Lagana both had powerful efforts kept out in regulation time.
It was a poor piece of defending that cost the Cannons in extra time as Basma tapped in at the back post after two Oakleigh defenders failed to clear Cameron Drake’s cutback from the right. Lagana had a headed goal ruled out with two minutes of the 120 remaining after he converted Bonel Obradovic’s shot-cum-cross as Gully made it two-straight titles.
