Christos Vaenas was the two-goal hero as Murdoch University Melville beat Olympic Kingsway 3-1 to win the Men's State League Night Series final on Saturday night.
MUM FC's triumph at Frank Drago Reserve continued their run of success since Taki Nicolaidis took charge midway through last season. First he led them to promotion via the inter-divisional play-offs, and now his side will feel confident they can compete with the best of Division One after claiming the first silverware of 2022.
In contrast, this was Olympic Kingsway's third straight loss in the Night Series final.
In an open match in which both sides had strong penalty appeals turned away by referee Niall Gilmor, Vaenas opened the scoring four minutes before half-time. A punt forward from Feisal Zaw led to a mix-up between Kingsway skipper Shane Cassidy and keeper David Keenan, allowing Vaenas to walk the ball into an empty net despite the best efforts of the covering Joshua Samson.
Kingsway looked to impose themselves after the interval and on 61 minutes they were level, and in some style. A neat interchange was broken up by Tim Robertson but from nowhere, Calum O'Connell delivered a perfect 25-yard chip which MUM keeper Tom Allan could only watch and admire as it sailed over his head and into the goal.
There was little to choose between the teams and as the match wore on, the possibility of penalties was becoming more and more likely. Then on 82 minutes Murdoch regained the lead when the ball ran to Kai Jones and he hit a sweet shot from outside the box which Keenan failed to keep out.
Kingsway, as they had to, threw men forward in search of an equaliser. However, that proved their undoing three minutes from the end as Allan gathered a corner and immediately arrowed the ball forward. Zaw chased and collected, beat his man, then squared for player of the match Vaenas to tap home from a couple of yards.
In the dying moments, Vaenas went agonisingly close to completing his hat-trick but his shot from the edge of the area struck the post.
Filed Under: Men's State League