Following Saturday’s dramatic Grand Final win, Northcote City players and coaches were understandably over the moon with their unexpected success, even believing that when they went a goal down in extra time, the result was never in question.
Having seen Luke Sherbon atone for his woeful penalty miss in the first half, many could have been forgiven to think that Northcote would suffer the same fate as in the Major Semi Final two weeks prior.
Northcote didn’t give up, and after a bizarre sending off for Bentleigh’s Luke Pilkington, they stepped on the gas and got the desired result.
“I’ve got complete faith in the boys and we’ve got quality on the bench that can come on and like it did, Junior (Michael Catalano) came on and he changed the game. It was a bit lucky for us, they got the red card but I never had a doubt in my mind,” said an overjoyed Adrian Chiappetta after the match.
“I’m ecstatic. It was brilliant. It was a hard game, that heat killed us but I’m ecstatic. It was the result we wanted and I think it was the result we deserved.”
The captain was a key part in holding the team together, as was the level headed Goran Lozanovski who urged his side to stay calm and do what they do best.
“I kept telling my boys that even if we get dominated to hang it there, every time we lost the ball just keep getting on the ball, keep trying to control the ball,” Lozanovski said.
“When we broke forward, we might have our moments for five, ten minutes and we did that. We were lucky enough to score a couple of goals to keep ourselves in the game, to keep enough pressure on them to make sure they couldn’t just go ahead and attack.”
One of the keys to winning the game for Northcote was how effective they were in shutting down Bentleigh livewire Ryan De Vries.
The winger managed to get himself on the scoresheet in the second half and was used as a general outlet for Bentleigh’s attacks.
Kristian Konstantinidis was tasked with marking the winger for the entire duration of the match, and he felt that the contest was certainly an even one in the end, with a surprising twist on his side of things.
“Coming into the game I was battling a hamstring injury. I strained my hamstring last week so I just wanted to do the basics today,” Konstantinidis said.
“Again [De Vries] scored but I thought in general play he was very dangerous. We both had our ups and downs, I got forward a bit as well but I’m just happy to win, just happy to come out on top.”
Apart from Jimmy Rooney medal winner Milos Lujic, Lozanovski felt the performance of goalkeeper Chris Theodoridis-Petropoulos was worth a mention.
The goalkeeper had been in inspired form all day, starting with a tremendous save off Sherbon just five minutes into the match.
“I thought Chris our goalkeeper stood up well today,” Lozanovski said.
“As much as we lapse in concentration at certain times, sometimes he didn’t even touch the ball for ten minutes and suddenly he had to come out and make a save so as far as I’m concerned, he was probably close to winning [the Jimmy Rooney medal] for mine, from my perspective.”
Scenes of jubilation followed at the final whistle, and for Lozanovski, winning the double in addition to his coach of the year award was just rewards for the work that everyone had put in all season.
“I daresay from round one no one gave us a chance at Northcote City and I just have to say full credit to the players, they did everything that was asked of them and even today,” he said.
“We weren’t at our best and we still dug deep and we hung in there, that’s what finals football is all about. You hang in, you give yourself a chance and we ended up winning it.
“I’ve grown a lot in the last 7-8 years and last week’s reward with coach of the year was down to me and Teddy planning hard all year long, and then the players responding. So I can’t accept that award on my own. It’s part of the club and part of the team. ”
One of the interesting facts about the club’s success this season was that everything was achieved with a relatively young playing group, and with a championship under their belt now, there’s a feeling that there’s more to come.
“We’re so young! We’ve got an average age of about 22 so it’s just a bit of experience that will come in next year having won a grand final, a lot of the boys will be looking forward to it next year,” Konstantinidis said.
A sentiment echoed by the coach as well.
“I got a bunch of boys over there who average anywhere from 22 to 23 years of age and they just showed me today that doesn’t matter just how good or bad you are on that day, if you’ve got a bit of ticker and you bat for your teammate, you can get something out of it and they’ve proved everyone wrong,” Lozanovski said.
Planning is also underway for next season, with targets already set for a continuation of their success.
“I think the biggest challenge right now is to keep the majority. As the Victorian Premier League is, there’s always clubs out there who poach, and financials come into it a bit larger for some of these boys, but that’s their call,” Lozanovski said.
“There’s no harsh feelings, I understand it, some guys need the finances some don’t, but if they want to hang around by all means.
“If I lose a couple I’m always going to strengthen the team so I’m already active even before this weekend’s grand final, I’m already active with four or five guys from interstate, so we’re always going to strengthen the team no matter what.”
For club captain Adrian Chiappetta, it’s pretty straightforward.
“We’re going back to back next year, definitely going back to back!” he exclaimed.