By Jason Turner (@jaseangelo)

Kingston City has caused an upset on the final day of the NPL 1 season, defeating league champion Avondale Heights 2-1 at Grange Reserve on Sunday.

Goals from Gino Defeo and Max Etheridge were enough to end Kingston's season on a high and put a minor dampener on Avondale Heights’ title celebrations.

Having secured the inaugural NPL 1 championship last weekend, the visitors started the contest in a fairly relaxed manner and didn’t display too much urgency.

They had the slight edge in possession early, but the more willing home side slowly chipped away at that advantage, showing more desire.

Perhaps with an eye on the trophy presentation at the end of the game, some lacklustre defending against a Kingston counter attack allowed Defeo to slide in George Stavridis' low cross.

But in a move that typified its qualities as champion, Avondale Heights was quick to find a response.

A slick passing move expertly finished off by Daniel Slovacek, squared up the contest and undid some of the early promise displayed by Kingston City.

Chances were still at a premium going into the break, but that changed in the second period.

It was end to end for much of the second half with both sides not showing the regular urgency to get back into defence.

Both sides managed to get the ball into their opponent’s attacking areas, but the final passes were hampered by ferocious winds.

The decider came on 59 minutes when Etheridge displayed some great strength, holding off a defender and turning to slot into the bottom corner.

It was a deserved reward for the hosts, but that didn't worry the newly crowned champion, which was presented with the trophy after the game.

Kingston City coach Nick Tolios was pleased to cap off an "inconsistent" year with victory against the champion.

"They've [Avondale Heights] had an unbelievable season. They proved a lot of people wrong, a lot of people thought they couldn't do it (win the championship_ and keep that momentum going but credit to them, they did it,” Tolios said.

Avondale Heights captain Anthony Strano said proving the doubters wrong was great, and that the championship was a just reward for his teammates.

"We [teammates] know what we can do, we know how hard we work, we know what we deserve and it's good we got what we deserved this year,” Strano said.

"It's big for a club like us, we've been written off every year for the last three years, being told we're going to finish last but we've proven everyone wrong.”

A proud Avondale Heights coach Anthony Barbieri knows that step up to the NPL will be tough, but he believes they can surprise people again.

"We've been doing this for the last three years. Our internal expectations are quite high. And when you've got a great group of boys and a good hardworking committee behind you, our job is made a lot easier," Barbieri said.

"We know what they can achieve and going into the NPL next year, we can surprise a few people."

MATCH DETAILS

Kingston City 2 (Defeo 21’, Etheridge 59’) defeated Avondale Heights 1 (Slovacek 26’) at The Grange Reserve [HT: 1-1]

Kingston City: 13. Nicholaus WOOLWARD (GK), 11. George STAVRIDIS, 2. Peter LORD, 4. James KARVELIS, 20. Nick MILIARESIS, 5. Kemal CURAN, 6. Velibor MITROVIC, 15. Gino DEFEO (14. Arthur PAPADAPOULOS 65’), 16. Nick STAMATIOU, 8. Michael HORVATINOVIC (19. Andrew DOIG 57’), 12. Stelios KONSTANTINIDIS (18. Tass AGAPITOS 63’), 9. Max ETHERIDGE.

Unused subs: 3. George GAMERAS, 1. Peter KOUNDAVIS.

Yellow cards: Mitrovic 48’

Red cards: Nil

Avondale Heights: 1. Anthony SARIC (GK), 33. Anthony FALLONE, 5. Andrew SACCHETTA, 31. Michele CRAZIA, 6. Anthony STRANO, 19. Jason PRINCIPATO, 24. Resit CULCULOGLU (34. Oleksiy KHRAPKO 57’), 3. Fabian GUGLIANDOLO, 10. Burakhan KOCA (27. Julien CANNIZZARO 63’), 14. Daniel SLOVACEK (4. Christopher VARTACI 75’), 8. Bosin GEORGEVSKI

Unused subs: 15. Zoran PAJIC, 21. Ben SCRO

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil

Pictured: Kingston City's Velibor Mitrovic in action (Image credit: Graeme Furlong)