Mandurah City capped their unbeaten Men's State League Night Series by lifting the title as Joe O'Brien's bullet header guided them to a 1-0 victory over Olympic Kingsway in Saturday's final at Macedonia Park.
City midfielder Alex Grayson created space and whipped in a perfect cross from the left which O'Brien nodded home for the match-winner in the 69th minute.
Mandurah, driven on for a loud and buoyant travelling army of fans, were good value for the win, although they thought they were behind early in the second half.
Kingsway appeared to take the lead in the 54th minute when Elliot Tattersall netted and celebrated in front of the City fans – only for the referee and his assistant to belatedly disallow it for offside.
Few clear-cut chances were created in the tense affair but City found the deserved breakthrough.
Mandurah joint-coach Pete Taylor said: "We showed a bit of experience. There was only one team that was going to win the game at half-time. We continued and the goal came."
Fellow joint-coach Kris Donnell added: "I thought we did really well in the first half and just couldn’t get that goal. Once we got it, I thought we defended ever so well in that last 15 minutes."
City midfielder Henry Collins volleyed a sixth minute shot wide in the first chance of the game, while Chris Rizidis sliced a shot off target for the Green Machine.
Rizidis limped off soon after injured in a blow for Kingsway as City continued to have the better chances with O'Brien testing Olympic keeper David Keenan.
O'Brien came the closest in the first half when Keenan failed to claim a cross and the City forward hit the woodwork with a header.
Kingsway thought they had the breakthrough early in the second period when Tattersall got in behind the defence and shot initially onto the post before firing home the rebound. His joy was shortlived when his effort was disallowed, albeit after a delay.
Tattersall almost set up Otto Van der Poel on the hour, when his flick was thwarted by Dolphins keeper Dylan Wilson.
Ex-Raith Rovers man John Baird continued to pull the strings in midfield for City alongside Collins and the goal they craved eventually came with O'Brien's header wrongfooting Keenan.
Tattersall unleashed another left-foot shot which tested Wilson again, while captain Luke Palmateer headed wide from the resultant corner to confirm it wasn't to be for Olympic.
Filed Under: Men's State League