Losing the Grand Final was a blow for Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis, but the future looks bright for the club as he believes that there is something special being built.
Bentleigh started the contest like a house on fire, but their inability to put their chances away cost them in the end as the match went into extra time.
Substitute Luke Pilkington earned an early bath with a moment of madness, leaving Bentleigh a man down for the last 17 minutes of the clash, as Northcote scored two goals to pinch the title.
Speaking after the match, Anastasiadis was visibly disappointed, and could scarcely believe his team’s luck on the day.
“I really can’t ask any more from the boys. You have the missed penalty, you hit the post, you have chances, your goalkeeper’s pulled off three magnificent saves. I can’t anymore from the boys,” Anastasiadis said.
“Yes it was a silly thing what Pilko (Luke Pilkington) did, but he’s got to live with that. It’s as simple as that but we can’t blame the result on that situation.
“And collectively, Northcote got the result. Congratulations to them, they’ve been a consistent team throughout the year.”
To Bentleigh’s credit, after they went down to ten men, they still fought to stay in the contest but it proved too much to overcome and Anastasiadis remains happy with his team.
“I couldn’t ask anymore even with ten players. We really gave it all we could, we grew a leg, we had to grow another leg I was telling them because there was no other way we could do it,” he said.
“I walk off the ground proud, proud that the boys put in whatever they could and that’s I can ask for.
“There’s something to look forward to. I think there’s a friendly rivalry developing now with Northcote so next year will be quite interesting.”
One of the most impressive features of Bentleigh’s season has been their style of play, something which Anastasiadis has been working hard to build.
“We’ve tried to better ourselves as a football team and played the right way but you can play the right way and not win games. This year we played the right way and won games, so that’s what I take away from this year certainly,” he said.
Anastasiadis also believes that his side have set a new benchmark for Victorian football, and that perceptions of what the highest level of football in the state is about has to change.
“[Bentleigh] is a small club but it’s a good club. It wants to go forward and we want to have a culture at that club for decades to come,” he said.
“It’s not the VPL anymore. We got to understand that. It’s not ‘oh yeah we’re VPL and we’re amateur’. It’s got to grow out of that now. That’s what we’re trying to create at this club and I believe a lot of other clubs are trying to do the same now and the players have to be up for it. They have to be better for it.
“We started January the 8th – that’s ten months we just completed. And when I was a professional footballer we did ten months. In actual fact we might be amateur but we certainly put our professional time into the game.”
With next season in mind, Anastasiadis sees a chance to blend more youth into his side, especially with the record the club has in producing talent.
“We’re always looking to get young kids into our squad. Last year I had so many young kids, this year we lost all of them to the A-League. Congratulations to them,” he said.
“That’s what you want to see, you want to see these boys moving on so next year we’re going to have a proper mix. We had a lot of experienced players this year but also some youngsters that are 20-21 year olds. So next year we’ll probably blood more youngsters – I definitely want to see a couple of them coming.”