After progressing to the PS4 NPL Grand Final with a 2-0 win over Hume City at Kingston Heath on Friday night, coach John Anastasiadis believes a desire to amend for recent near misses will drive his team to title glory.
While the fresher Greens hosted a Hume City outfit coming off a three day turnaround in the semi-final, Anastasiasis was pleased with his side’s ability to deny the opposition any sniff of pipping a result against the odds.
“It was an unbelievable performance today, the boys were sensational, they put their bodies on the line, we were aggressive and we haven’t seen that before in our game for a long, long time,” he said.
“They were really determined, they knew what was at stake, we were 90 minutes from a Grand Final and now we’re in there, so I’m very proud of them, I’m happy for them, but we’ve got one game to go.
“Hume had a big game on Tuesday and it was tough to back it up today, absolutely, but its just normal for that to happen.
“At the end of the day that’s how it is and we took advantage of it, I’m not going to lie, we did take advantage, but we actually made the game too, because we actually fought hard, worked hard, kept the ball moving quickly and made them even more tired.
After a number of seasons of falling just short of glory in both league and cup competitions, including in the race for top spot in the league in 2015, Anastasiadis was pleased the club earned another opportunity to earn silverware this season.
“This year we’ve been in the top two all year, we’ve been on top for so long and got knocked off in the end by goal difference,” he said.
“It was disappointing for us not to be involved in the [national NPL] competition, which we’d love to be involved in, but now we’ve got another chance to get some silverware and hopefully it comes to fruition.”
Despite succumbing to Northcote in the 2013 VPL Grand Final – a game the Greens were more fancied to win – Anastasiadis believes the redemption will spur the club to greater heights against NPL Premiers South Melbourne, who will go into the contest as slight favorites at home at Lakeside.
“we know and a lot of people know who were at that grand final two years ago we should have won that game and that certainly was us
“I think all the boys – the ones that were here and are here still today – know what it was like to lose that game and we should have been the winners, so I believe that will hold us in good stead in getting the result we want [against South Melbourne].”
Bentleigh Greens will take confidence to the Grand Final next Sunday at 3pm at Lakeside Stadium, with the last encounter between the two clubs there ending in a 1-0 to the visitors courtesy of Chris Lucas’ solitary goal.