Old foes Floreat Athena and Perth Soccer Club face off in a decider again on Saturday night as the 2022 NPLWA – Men’s Night Series Final heads to Frank Drago Reserve (7.15pm).
It’s a fourth final in two years for the pair who have contested the past two Top Four Cup showdowns, as well as the 2020 edition of the pre-season showpiece, when the Azzurri defeated an understrength Athena 5-0.
This year’s final appearance will be Floreat’s fourth in five seasons. Three years ago, they also won it at Frank Drago Reserve as they defeated Bayswater City on penalties, and Athena’s Nick Ambrogio says it is a piece of silverware the club takes seriously.
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“You always want to win trophies as a player and what better way to start the season than to win a Night Series Final, and that would help us to take a good step into the season,” he said.
“I think our performance levels have increased. The game against Stirling (a 7-3 defeat) was our first legit hit-out as a group. We were a little off the races and they put us to the sword, but as the games have gone on, we’ve gotten better and the results have proven that.
“The experience through the group of players, we’ve got an older squad and all the boys have played in finals over the years, so I guess we know how to get there when the time comes.”
Athena’s defeat to promoted Stirling was the only loss they suffered in the Night Series, although they were given a free passage to Saturday’s final when holders Inglewood forfeited their semi-final after their squad was hit with Covid.
Floreat have become cup specialists in recent years, having won the past two State Cups and at least one trophy in every season bar one since 2015.
Ambrogio has played a key role in recent Athena successes with the highlight perhaps being a Gary Marocchi medal in 2020 for his two-goal performance against former club Perth in the Top Four Final. Last year, though, the Azzurri got their revenge with a stunning 6-3 win.
“I guess that final last year was a bit of a shock to the system,” he said.
“Nobody really expected it. We certainly didn’t. But we conceded five goals in 20 minutes and the motivation for this weekend is to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“When it’s finals, you want to be at your best and play your best and that’s the bit of added motivation you take. I’ve been fortunate enough to bag a couple of goals in those finals and hopefully there a chance to do that again this week.”
Perth, Night Series runners-up 12 months ago, head into the final on the back of an impressive 3-1 win over Stirling Macedonia in last week’s semi-final.
It’s been an off-season of change for the 2021 league champions as Marc Wingell stepped up from assistant coach to lead the team following the departure of Ramon Falzon. Marc’s brother Dale will assist him after working at Cockburn City for several years, as the siblings reunite at Perth following their playing days together in the early 1990s.
The Azzurri squad has also seen an overhaul with several key names departing Dorrien Gardens, while only a handful of the senior players remain from that successful era. One of those is skipper Jordan De Leo who is confident the team are building in the right direction.
“Pre-season’s been good. We’ve focused on a bit of chemistry and cohesion with some team-building exercises on top of the training, but it’s still early days and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“We were pleased with our performance last week, but we’re not where we want to be just yet and there’s definitely room for improvement still.
“To get early reward to reflect the work and effort we’ve put in during the pre-season, it would do a whole lot of good for a young team who have bought into this new future with Perth. It’s always nice to win something to see your hard work result in a positive outcome.
“I’ve been here that long now and I’ve seen players go in the last few years and people have started to write us off, but I’ve never had a doubt of what we can do because of that buy-in to the culture and the foundations and frameworks in place.
“With Floreat you know what you’re going to get because they’re quite consistent. It’s a bit of a cliché but we try to focus on ourselves first and execute our game plan, and if we do our job then hopefully it will lead to a win on the weekend.”
The NPLWA Night Series Final is the second fixture of a double-header at Frank Drago Reserve with the Men’s State League Night Series game between Murdoch University Melville and Olympic Kingsway preceding it at 5pm.
Both finals will be live streamed on the Football West Facebook and YouTube pages.
Filed Under: NPL WA - Men’s competition