Albion Park vs Thirroul

JJ Kelly Park

Kick-off: Thursday (11/9), 8:00pm

Referee: Alex Talut

Albion Park and Thirroul face off in this season’s Illawarra Master Builders Women’s Division One Grand Final on Thursday night at JJ Kelly Park.

Thirroul have proven to be a surprise package this postseason after they just snuck into a finals place at the end of the regular season.

The Northern Suburbs club first beat Wollongong Olympic 7-6 on penalties in the semi-finals before causing a massive upset by downing defending champions Tarrawanna 2-1 last weekend.

“I can’t complain with the results,” said Thirroul head coach Brad Matiuscenko.

“The girls have been working really hard at training and always trying to better themselves especially for these finals because they know we’re up against it.

“It’s a Grand Final and anything can happen but they’re a great side this Albion Park team and we’ll need to keep working hard like we have been.

“They’re deadly up front and they can put the ball in the back of the net from anywhere so we need to shut them down early.

“We’re not here to just fill up the numbers, we can compete with any side going around so if we put in the effort then we’ll reap the benefits.

“The girls have basically played two Grand Finals already to get here so I hope we’ve still got something left in the tank to do the job against what is a very, very good side.”

Thirroul face a tall task against the League Champions but have showed they can mix it with the best during the finals.

During the regular season Thirroul went down 5-1 and 7-2 in their two matches earlier in the year and know first-hand just how good this Albion Park side can be.

The Southern Suburbs club wrapped up the League Championship with three games to spare and will be looking to add yet another piece of silverware to an impressive campaign that saw them claim the State Cup earlier in the year.

“It’s a big day for us, the girls have had a great year and a win here would really cap that off for us,” said Albion Park head coach Richard Davis.

“It was a bit of a surprise when we found out that Thirroul beat Tarrawanna because they’ve been the benchmark in recent years but they’re still a very good team.

“If we don’t compete then we could be in trouble because it’s a Grand Final and it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t show up on the day.

“Thirroul is a good side and they’re not going to sit back and let us dictate the game so we need to make sure we’re competitive in the game.

“We just need to think about where we are and what we want to achieve and hopefully the girls realise that we can celebrate after the game.”

Albion Park have been deadly throughout the year, finishing the season with a goal difference of 68 and the competition’s two leading scorers in Brittany Ring and Shakiah Tungai.

The game features the classic underdog story and Thirroul will be hoping they can knock off one more big side to complete their fairy tale run.

Julian Keith

FSC Reporter