Golden win for juniors

HANWOOD Juniors are fast becoming known as the “golden goal” team after they secured a place in next week’s grand final by scoring in extra time against Wests Soccer Club.

The overtime victory is the second in as many weeks for the Hanwood team and coach Kyle Favero said it was a great victory for the club.

“We’ve got no attacking players, so it was pretty good to get the goal in extra time,” he said. 

“I’m just happy to be playing Hanwood at Hanwood in the grand final.”

Despite the win, Favero said his squad was on the back foot for much of the game and did well to keep Wests from scoring in normal time.

“In the first half, they had more possession,” he said. 

“They played better in the first half, but in the second half we slowly started to come back into it but they still probably had more possession until we got that goal.”

Wests coach Frank Portolesi said it was an extremely disappointing loss for his squad.

“We had the majority of possession and were looking pretty comfortable,” Portolesi said. 

“They didn’t threaten our goal for the whole game, but we just couldn’t put it in the back of the net and you can’t win games unless you score goals.

“Our boys probably deserved the win more, but that’s not how finals footy goes.”

Wests still dominated possession as the game went into extra time, but their inability to capitalise on their opportunities continued to hurt the squad. 

As the second half in extra time began, it looked like the game would go to a penalty shootout, but a free kick in front of Wests’ goal gave Hanwood the chance it needed and Carlin Guglielmino was able to bend it in to the back of the net.

Portolesi praised his squad’s efforts yesterday and gave special mention to the performances of Adam Raso and Luke Tsantefskis.

“I can’t fault any one of the boys, there was no one who didn’t put their heart and soul into it,” he said. 

“The whole back line played brilliantly and never looked in trouble.”

Hanwood Juniors 1

Wests Soccer Club 0