THEY both had their chances, but there was no separating Hanwood Football Club and Yoogali Soccer Club on Sunday afternoon.
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The final nil-all score was not a reflection of what a fine display of football it was, with the crowd on their feet on a number of occasions.
Yoogali SC coach Luke Santolin said the teams approached the match with different styles.
“It was just a matter of who was going to stand up on the day and it was a stalemate,” Santolin said.
There was some speculation about whether a goal was scored for Yoogali SC in the dying minutes, but Santolin thought it was a fair match.
“We like to play a structure in defence to then attack from a strong foundation and it worked well, we’ve got the players to do that,” Santolin said.
“They like to feel the ball – they’re very much a technical side. It was two totally different styles which I think made for good watching if you were a neutral spectator.”
Santolin said Yoogali SC was usually able to create an opportunity to score in the opening exchanges and on Sunday Darren Bailey was the man who had the chance.
“We normally create a good chance in the first 20 minutes and Darren was probably unlucky not to score, he made his own chance,” Santolin said.
“That was it but we had plenty of chances, it just didn’t break clean for us, but in another game it will and we’ll bank on that, we’re not going to chance too much.”
Santolin said he was happy with the efforts of his players.
“We wanted to have a good performance going into the finals,” he said.
“This result didn’t really matter – yes the minor premiership was up for grabs - but in the context of the season we just needed to be playing our best and we feel positive after this game.”
Hanwood will be the team to beat, Santolin said.
“I think Hanwood would be disappointed not to win this year with the depth and talent in their squad,” he said.
“I think in the last 20 minutes being able to bring on two, three really good players can play a part.
“That’s probably another reason I’m so proud of the boys – we’ve had virtually 11, 12 players all year and we’ve just stuck in and worked for each other.”