Emerald were crowned Belt Up Amateur Premier Division champions on Sunday after they came down on the right side of the tightest of title races.
A Donal Shanley goal three minutes from time gave them a 4-1 win over Jaguar at Fraser Park, which proved just enough to take the crown and deny East Perth, who had won by a similar scorelne at relegated South West Phoenix the previous night.
The final league table saw Emerald and East Perth level on 47 points, and both with a goal difference of +33. Crucially, Emerald scored six more goals over the season which made all the difference.
East Perth made sure they did their bit by taking maximum points in Bunbury on Saturday night. Things got off to a bad start for Colm Costello's team, with Jeremy Stevens putting the home side ahead after only six minutes. But once East Perth got back on terms in first-half stoppage time through Ryan McCready it was all about getting the win and then trying to score as many as possible.
McCready struck again on 68 minutes to put them ahead, Darren O'Riordan made it 3-1, then in stoppage time Conor Convery grabbed a fourth.
That left Shane O’Donovan’s side needing to at least match East Perth's margin of victory at home to Jaguar, and they did just that with a 4-1 win of their own.
They went ahead through a James Craig penalty before half-time, then after the break Craig struck again to make it 2-0. Emerald still needed another goal and that came when Craig headed home to complete his hat-trick. However, the day turned when Magai Deng pulled one back for Jaguar and in the process sent East Perth back to the top of the table.
With time running out, Emerald were getting desperate until Shanley came up with a fourth goal to give Emerald the title.
While East Perth were left to reflect on missing out on the title, they will still get an opportunity to gain promotion to Men's State League Division Two via an inter-divisional play-off game against Morley Windmills. The date and venue for the game will be confirmed soon.
- Football West would like to acknowledge the Insurance Commission on Western Australia as the name sponsor of the Men's Amateur League through its Belt Up road safety campaign.