A terrific day of Junior Boys Cup finals for the hundreds of fans who filled Grindleford Reserve on Saturday, with Perth Glory winning the U14 and U15 cups, hosts Balcatta Etna claiming the U13s, Sorrento the U16s while the U18s went to Ellenbrook.
Junior Boys U13 final – Balcatta Etna 1-0 Perth Glory
A great way for the host club to begin finals day as Balcatta Etna overcame Glory in an entertaining tussle.
The only goal came after 15 minutes thanks to a penalty from Balcatta captain Nikolas Sotirovski, who celebrated in style with an impressive knee slide.
Glory had their chances to level but found Balcatta keeper Anthony Donatelli on top of his game, and Etna did enough to take the win.
Junior Boys U14 final – Perth Glory 3-0 Perth SC
The biggest result of the day but it was by no means one-way traffic.
Martin Dickerson opened the scoring for Glory, squeezing the ball home in a crowded area. But Perth came back, and it was end-to-end stuff.
But as the Azzurri chased the game, they left themselves vulnerable and Dickerson added his and Glory’s second before Anthony Vrebac completed the scoring.
Junior Boys U15 final – Perth Glory 1-0 Joondalup City
The Glory 15s were probably the biggest favourites going into finals day on the strength of their big win over City in the league earlier in the season.
But Joondalup came prepared and pushed their opponents all the way.
The winning goal arrived in the second half when Alex Garbowski found himself unmarked on a free-kick and headed home. The Glory centre-back nearly repeated the trick, this time hitting the woodwork.
Joondalup keeper Sam Dobson impressed before City almost pulled the game out of the fire. Roared on by their fantastic support, Alfie Knight hit a stunning 30-yard effort which cannoned off the Glory crossbar and bounced to safety.
Junior Boys U16 final – Sorrento 1-0 Bayswater City
An intense battle which had a missed penalty, a disallowed goal, near misses at both ends, outstanding defending and ultimately a last-minute winner.
The only surprise was that it stayed 0-0 for as long as it did, largely thanks to keepers Ryan Schofield and Luca Alvaro and their respective backlines.
But with penalties beckoning, Sorrento were awarded a spot-kick for handball and Jake Devey fired low into the corner to spark wild celebration from the Gulls.
Junior Boys U18 final – Ellenbrook United 2-1 Rockingham City
A full-blooded encounter in front of an enthusiastic crowd to finish the day.
Following a goalless first half not lacking incident, Ellenbrook took the lead four minutes after the interval through Jordan Manuel.
Banyping Johnson made it 2-0 for Ellenbrook, but any thoughts of seeing the game out in comfort were thwarted when Corey Phillips threw Rockingham a lifeline 10 minutes from the end.
However, Ellenbrook keeper Greg Chengen was not going to be beaten again and it was United who took home the silverware.