Swan United will join Gosnells City, Murdoch University Melville and Kingsley Westside in the Division One promotion play-offs following the final week of the regular season in the Men’s State League.
MUM FC prevented Division Two champions Dianella White Eagles from recording an unbeaten league campaign as they won 3-0 to ensure their play-off spot.
Taki Nicolaidis' team needed three points to guarantee their post-season place, with Wanneroo City lurking. And Daniel Tait's first of the season on 42 minutes set them on the way on the synthetic surface.
Declan Tanna and Kai Jones added second-half strikes, while Daniel McKenzie was shown a red card for Dianella late on.
MUM FC's win was their second on the bounce and meant Wanneroo’s 3-2 win at Kingsley proved immaterial.
In the end the Roos fell short by a point as they were left to count the cost of defeats to Balga and Joondalup City in the previous fortnight.
Jack Reilly and Charles Breen put City 2-0 up against a Kingsley side who had already secured their play-off spot. The hosts then hit back through Joel Gillespie and Jamie McLeod, only for Jack Hailstones to score what proved to the winner for Wanneroo on 52 minutes.
Gosnells finished second after a 5-0 win at relegated Kelmscott made it four wins in a row for Marc Anthony's side. Five individual scorers hit the net for the away side with Miguel De Oliveira, Darren Francis, Conor Kavanagh, Wade Farmer and James Sharp all registering in the second half.
Elsewhere, Curtin University and Joondalup City ended their seasons on a high. Curtin finished eighth thanks to a Daniel Davey double in a 2-0 win at Canning City, while Liam McGurk's brace helped Joondalup City came from behind to defeat Morley Windmills 2-1. Carramar Shamrock Rovers and Balga SC ended 1-1 in the final game with Owen Coates’ opener for Carramar cancelled out late on by Damien Manno.
In Division One, Ashfield were relegated to Division Two after a 2-0 defeat at Olympic Kingsway.
The visitors needed to win and make up goal difference on Swan United, who were at champions Stirling Macedonia. But once Harry Evans had lifted the ball over Jamie Serra for the opener on 38 minutes, the writing was on the wall. Riley Gordon then rifled home his first of the season with nine minutes remaining to seal Ashfield’s fate.
The result meant Swan United get a second crack at staying in Division One when they enter the play-offs. Dan Evans' side lost 2-1 at NPL-bound Stirling, who ended a fantastic season on a high thanks to Alex Tanevski's late winner.
After giving the champions a guard of honour before play, Brennan Borzecki put Swan ahead. Dejan Spaseski's first of the season on the volley levelled the scores midway through the second half then Tanevski tapped in at the death to win it for Ian Ferguson's side, who registered a 17th win of the season and will now look to complete a league and Top Four Cup double.
Joondalup United will be Stirling's opponents in the midweek Top Four Cup semi-finals after Nick Jennings' side dropped to fourth and lost their seven-game unbeaten run with defeat at Forrestfield United.
Forrestfield, who ended the year with six games unbeaten to finish in the top half, announced on Monday they were parting ways with head coach Graham Normanton after three years.
Forrestfield took the lead through Laurence Todd's thumping half-volley, but Brad McDonald headed in the equaliser five minutes later.
Rhys Loxley put Forrestfield back on top on 65 minutes when he raced clear to score, before Dan Corbett's tap-in at the back post sealed a final day three points in the final quarter of an hour.
Forrestfield's win opened the door for Quinns to finish third and they did so thanks to a late winner from Ben Hinshelwood in a 3-2 win over Western Knights.
Both sides will meet at Nash Field again in a few days' time in the semi-finals with Glen Grostate's team unbeaten against Knights in 2021 and on a four-game unbeaten run. They went behind when Paul Lloyd broke the offside trap to prod home, but levelled through Hinshelwood's penalty early in the second half.
Owen Goodliffe put Quinns in front after a swift counterattack, but Knights made it 2-2 when Dean Hurley levelled from the penalty spot. Former ECU striker Hinshelwood would win it though when he hooked in from close range for goal number 22 of the season as the hosts finished third.
Elsewhere, Fremantle City won 2-1 at Subiaco to finish fifth but missed out on the Top Four Cup.
An own goal from Mella Loding set Freo on their way, but Ben Johns levelled with a firm header on 64 minutes. Former Perth Glory winger Todd Howarth then hooked over his shoulder moments later to win it.
And UWA Nedlands finished the season with a flurry as they scored five goals in the final 17 minutes to defeat Mandurah City 5-1.
Joe O'Brien had put the Dolphins ahead early on, but Luke Randazzo's leveller on 73 minutes set off an incredible end to the season for the hosts.
Samuel Moffatt put them ahead before two goals from Tim Robertson and another Randazzo effort completed the rout.
Filed Under: Men's State League