Leichhardt Saints A have won the first silverware of the season after claiming the premiership for topping the table at the end of the regular season.
Having been chasing Concord A for the majority of the season, Saints finished the season in a flurry: undefeated in their final 13 matches which included 12 wins.
Needing just a draw against Concord in the last match of the season, Saints were able to achieve this to claim the premiership by two points.
They will now look ahead to the finals series as they look to win the Grace Martin Trophy and claim the double.
Finals Week 1
Major Semi-Final: Leichhardt Saints v Concord JSC (1:30pm Sunday 7 August at Strathfield Park 1)
Minor Semi-Final: Strathfield FC v Hurlstone Park Wanderers (1:30pm Sunday 7 August at Strathfield Park 2)
Round 16 Wrap
Concord A 1-1 Leichhardt Saints A
It was a clear, cool, and still Sunday afternoon at Majors Bay Reserve as first and second met on the table to decide who would be crowned 2022 Premiers.
Straight from the kick-off, Concord looked to attack high up the pitch against the tenacious Leichhardt defence. The game was an arm wrestle in the centre of the field with Concord pushing strongly with short passes and lateral ball movement and Leichhardt looking to counter-attack early.
Despite both teams looking to score in different ways, there were no early goals to break the deadlock.
The game was thrown wide open though just before half time as April Hunter was sin-binned for dissent before quickly being shown the red card: Concord down to ten players!
Instantly the game shifted with Leichhardt dominating the territory as Concord looked to hold on and defend their goal with a player down.
30 minutes of constant pressure finally paid dividends when Lucia Gonzalez broke through for Leichhardt, giving Saints a 1-0 lead with just 13 minutes remaining.
Now needing two goals to claim the first trophy of the season, Concord lifted their attacking intensity: taking shots on sight with one of them forcing Saints to concede a corner.
In the final minute of play, the corner was nicely weighted into the penalty box causing a goal mouth scramble which saw Hannah Newton put the ball into her own net.
The final scores of 1-1 was enough to see Saints lift the premiership and give them a chance at claiming the double in the upcoming finals series.
Hurlstone Park Wanderers 1-2 Strathfield FC
This match was a dead-rubber of sorts with both teams locked into their positions: Hurlstone Park Wanderers were guaranteed to finish in fourth position and Strathfield were going to finish third.
Things did not look good for Strathfield at kick-off as they started the match with nine players with injuries and sin-bins seeing their numbers dip to as low as eight players at one stage of the game. Hurlstone Park were also hampered with several players unavailable for selection due to injury.
Despite the lack of number, Strathfield shocked all those in attendance with a vert strong start: creating several opportunities with Pauline Beard opening the scoring after 20 minutes!
Daniella Fierro doubled Strathfield’s lead later in the first half with a quality finish.
Up in numbers but down on the scoreboard, Wanderers rallied in the second half with instant impact: Lorna Arkell scoring for Hurlstone Park just four minutes in.
With 41 minutes left to equalise, Hurlstone Park threw everything forward but a desperate Strathfield defence held on for an unlikely victory.
The two teams will meet again in the finals series.
Concord B 0-0 Leichhardt Saints B
Neither club was able to supply match information in time for publication.
Feature image credit: Photographed with Love
