Bentleigh Greens will be looking to bury their demons from their 2013 Grand Final heartbreak when they take on South Melbourne for the big prize on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Stadium.
The Greens led 2-1 against Northcote City at AAMI Park in 2013 before Luke Pilkington was sent-off, with Northcote using their man advantage to seal a 3-2 extra-time win.
Jack Webster was one of the Bentleigh players in that starting XI, and he says the team will do everything they can to make amends this Sunday.
“That was a very disappointing time,” Webster said. “There’s a few boys still in the team who played in that final.”
“Hopefully we can draw something from that final and go on and do the business on Sunday and win it for the club and the committee and for ourselves.”
Bentleigh just missed out on top-spot this season, pipped by South Melbourne at the end after leading for most of the 2015 NPL campaign.
“Everyone at the club wanted to finish top and to be beaten on goal difference was very disappointing especially leading for large periods of the season,” Webster said.
“We wanted to win as much as possible at the start of the season and it hasn’t worked out that way, but on Sunday hopefully we can take some silverware home.”
Bentleigh are unbeaten against South Melbourne this year, with one win and one draw to their names, something that can spur John Anastasiadis’ men in the final.
“The style of play that we play works perfectly for us to be able to beat South,” Webster said.
“It’s worked on one occasion and we were unlucky not to do the double over them this year.
“We know all about (South’s) danger players but we’ve got good enough players for them to worry more about us than we worry about them.”
Webster is also not worried about having to play the final at South’s home ground, stating it could work in Bentleigh’s favour.
“It’d have been better to play it at AAMI Park like we did in 2013 but if we win [at Lakeside] it’ll be a wee bit embarrassing [for South], won’t it?” he said.