Never-say-die Olympic complete treble with Top Four Cup win
Olympic Kingsway produced another of their great escapes as they added the 2024 NPLM Top Four Cup to the league title and State Cup.
The Green Machine twice came from behind to beat Stirling Macedonia 3-2 at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
Joe Knowles scored twice and Gary Marocchi Medal winner Josh Samson got the other for Olympic, while Alex Tanevski and Ciaran Byrne were on target for Stirling.
This unwillingness to accept defeat has been evident all season, none more so than over the past three weeks.
In their final league game, they trailed 2-0 to Armadale before scoring twice in stoppage time to preserve their unbeaten home record.
A fortnight ago, David Tough's side recovered from conceding twice in the opening seven minutes to beat Perth RedStar in the State Cup final.
Then just last week, they found an equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game before defeating RedStar on penalties in the Top Four Cup semi-final.
This loss was tough to take for Stirling, who were trying to go back-to-back in this competition.
They looked on course to succeed after going ahead through Tanevski’s penalty early in the second half following a foul on Joshua Bilaloski.
But three minutes into stoppage time Olympic pulled another rabbit out of the hat when Knowles tried his luck from outside the box and his swerving shot deceived Stirling keeper James Bosdet for 1-1.
That meant extra-time and it was Stirling who went back in front late in the first period. Moments after Knowles had hit the crossbar, the ball went to the other end of the field and former Olympic striker Byrne showed his predatory instinct to beat Adrian Sinagra and score.
With 10 minutes to play Olympic threw Aryn Williams forward and the defender was involved in the equaliser, making enough of a nuisance of himself to allow Samson to nip in and finish.
And three minutes later Williams chased down the Stirling defence and forced the mistake as Bosdet brought him down for a penalty. Knowles converted and from nowhere Olympic were on their way to a third trophy of an unforgettable campaign.
In other games, Perth Glory did a double as they won the NPLM U18s final against Perth RedStar and U20s final against Perth SC.
In the U18s, Ollie Evans gave them an early lead before some trickery by Tyler Nyabinde saw the Glory player make it two.
RedStar pulled one back later in the half when Seth McGillivray finished at the back post, triggering a great fightback as Finn Wensley and Rohan Patel turned the game on its head within 10 minutes of the restart.
But just as RedStar were heading to victory, Tadi Mutyavaviri came up with a stoppage-time equaliser to make it 3-3 and take the game to penalties which Glory won 6-5.
Glory also found themselves two goals ahead in the U20s final after Louis Sollitt and Will Ferson converted crosses from the left. A thumping finish by Jack Sprigg pulled one back for the Azzurri, only for Perth SC to immediately concede as Sollitt turned his marker, broke down the right and squared for Alfie Knight to score.
Incredibly, Sprigg struck again straight from the kick-off as he capitalised on a poor Glory defensive error and once more it was game on. Eight minutes from the end Knight grabbed his second, but in keeping with the nature of the game Perth scored again as Clarence Musa diverted a corner in but they were unable to find another and Glory hung on to win 4-3.
