Two goals apiece from Japanese stars Riku Iwauchi and Shohei Okuno gave Albion Park White Eagles victory in Sunday afternoon’s Illawarra Mercury Premier League Grand Final at the WIN stadium. The White Eagles put in a pulsating performance to the delight of their vociferous vocal support, running out 4-2 winners on the day.

Kemblawarra Fury scored first through Fabian Iacovelli and made the White Eagles fight all the way. Cameron Morgan’s goal gave the IPL title holders hope with twenty minutes remaining, but it was not enough to prevent the Albion Park claiming their first Grand Final crown since 2008.

White Eagles coach Jeff Allport spoke proudly of his whole squad at the end of the game: “This is an exceptional set of players and we may never get such a talented squad together again. They were determined to do whatever was needed to win the game today. It was a great match to watch and I’m so pleased we managed to finish the season the way we did.”

Fury coach Luke Maguire also paid credit to the White Eagles: “They played a great game today and deserved to win. I thought we played well, but those three (Japanese imports) were the difference on the day.”

Right from the whistle, it was obvious that the Japanese trio of Okuno, Iwauchi and Kotaro Higashi enjoy playing together, with quick-fire neat passing giving the White Eagles much of the early possession and the first chances of the match.

Twice in the opening minutes their creative play set up Mitch Delturco inside the penalty area, but twice he was foiled by the offside flag.

Okuno’s set-piece delivery is second to none in this league and it was a free-kick after 15 minutes swung in dangerously towards Vaughan Patterson that had the Fury defence at full stretch to prevent an effective shot on goal.

That early defensive work paid off when the Fury took the lead on 20 minutes. David Hartas broke down the right and sent in a perfectly-weighted cross for Iacovelli who fired home from 12 yards out as Patterson tried desperately to get his body in the way of the ball.

The lead was short-lived, though. Straight from the restart, the White Eagles were back on level terms, with Higashi playing a pinpoint ball to the feet of Iwauchi, who flicked the ball over Fury keeper David Poeira.

And suddenly we had a real cup tie. Tempers flared briefly and yellow cards were shown, but it was the passion of players overflowing rather than any serious malintent.

It wasn’t long before the White Eagles went ahead. This time it was route one. Mark Every played a long clearance from the back, finding Okuno on the edge of the area and the White Eagles top scorer fired a bullet past Poeira for 2-1.

Just past the half hour mark, Robbie Shields limped off injured. Matthew McNab might have been a good replacement, but it meant Maguire’s options later in the game were limited and that may well have been a decisive factor in the final outcome.

In the meantime, the Fury had more defending to do before the break, and too often they were giving the ball away out of defence, setting up another attack from the eager White Eagles. Alvin Ceccoli put in a brave challenge on Peter Prandalos inside the area, and then Hartas hurried the ball off the line after Okuno and Higashi had again outwitted the Fury backline.

At half time it was 2-1 with the White Eagles in charge, but the Fury by no means out of it.

The Fury came out for the second half, looking more composed, and put some of their own passing possession together, but were unable to pierce the White Eagles defence.

And it was the White Eagles who increased their lead in the 57^th minute. Iwauchi won a free kick 25 yards out and Okuno stepped up to send the ball curling round the wall and in at the near post with an unstoppable free-kick.

But the Fury were not beaten yet. They had their best spell of the game in the minutes that followed. First Ceccoli tried a scissors kick from inside the area, with White Eagles keeper Bryce Daenell just beating Sam Munro to the ball. Then it was a Morgan half volley which flew inches wide.

Iacovelli then had a go from the edge of the area and earned a corner as his looping shot caught a deflection on its way over the bar. Ceccoli met Shane Murray’s corner and sent a header back across the goal towards Morgan at the far post, who had a simple nod in from close range to make it 3-2.

For a brief moment, it looked as if the Fury might drag themselves back into it. When Chris Nathaniel sliced a clearance wildly, some thought he’d scored a dramatic own goal to even things up, but the ball had flown into the side netting and away for a corner instead.

And with five minutes to go, Iwauchi put the game beyond doubt. It was Man of the Match Okuno who set him up, but the delivery again was faultless, giving Poeira little chance in the Fury goal.

The full time whistle blew to noisy cheers from the large White Eagles contingent.

White Eagles captain Vaughan Patterson acknowledged those supporters in his post-match comments, but thanked all his players for putting themselves on the line today to come through the Grand Final victorious.

In his own post-match speech to the crowd, Fury captain Alvin Ceccoli welcomed the White Eagles back to the big stage and acknowledged it had been a good game. He paid tribute to his own players and coach for their achievement in winning the League title over the whole season and promised to go one better next year.

Kemblawarra Fury – 2 (Iacovelli 20’, Morgan 71’)

Albion Park White Eagles – 4 (Iwauchi 21’, 85’, Okuno 26’ 57’)

Sunday 25 September 2016

WIN Stadium

Referee: Bobby Mazevski

Assistant referees: Nathan Wotton, Blake Herbert

4^th Official: Steve Bozic

Kemblawarra Fury: David Poeira, Lachlan O’Connor, Nathan Jagelman (Brenton Rhodes 58’), Shane Murray, Kyle Senior, David Hartas, Fabian Iacovelli, Alvin Cecccoli, Cameron Morgan, Robbie Shields (Matthew McNab 34’), Sam Munro (subs not used: Shane Lyons, Tyson Rhodes, David Zufic)

Albion Park White Eagles: Bryce Daenell, Dejan Djukic (Djordjie Uzelac 89’), Mark Every, Chris Nathaniel, Peter Prandalos, Vaughan Patterson, Riku Iwauchi, Robert Delbanco, Mitch Del Turco (Brian Montanari 51’), Shohei Okuno, Kotaro Higashi (Darren Jones 83’) (subs not used: Dylan Wray, Lachlan Ahling)

 

Report by Simon Duffin

Photo by Pedro Garcia