Athena focus now on treble

Report by Tommy Doleman

Bayley Brown-Montgomery’s stoppage-time goal sparked wild celebrations for Floreat. Photo by Football West/FotoEnzo

Floreat Athena begin the third leg of their treble bid on Saturday in the NPLWA - Men’s Top Four Cup.

Having bagged the Night Series back in March, Floreat clinched the league title on a thrilling final day last weekend as Bayley Brown-Montgomery’s stoppage-time goal broke a 15-year title drought.

Emotions at Armadale’s Alfred Skeet Reserve were high at full time, with Athena fans in fine voice and no doubt relieved to get over the line after a couple of near misses.

The relief was felt across the club, according to defender Jesse Fuller who praised the resolve of the squad, having led 2-0 early on before being pegged back to 2-2 with eight minutes left.

“It’s been a long time coming. The last handful of years we’ve been pretty close but have come up short for whatever reason,” the former Cockburn and Armadale player said.

“Coming into the weekend the mindset for us was about going out there, getting the job done, winning at all costs, and doing whatever it took to get three points. We didn’t know what was going on around the grounds, so the focus for us was controlling what we could control which was our performance and game.

“The mission was pretty simple, and then the game unfolded the way it did. There was a sense of déjà vu when they scored their second goal, but we got the winning goal with Rob (Petkov) and Bayley linking well together and there was a big sigh of relief when it went in.

“We had a couple of fixtures which probably got away from us in the first half of the season and didn’t quite get the win. The league is a long hard slog, and you need a few things to go in your favour, but the main thing is consistency and that’s what we tried to drill down on from the get-go.

“But the late victories were a major factor and the composure to keep playing the full 90 was the main thing I noticed this year. That’s what happens when you have a quality team.”

Teammate Andrew Palmer said it was a character trait which mirrored the season as a whole.

“A good few times this season we’ve been drawing games and then have scored late on to come away with the win. Those points we pushed for until the very end were important,” the midfielder said.

“Sometimes we’ve had to grind out the results and winning the league by the narrow margin we did, you look back now and those games really mattered.

“The Bayswater game (a 6-1 defeat in round seven) was a big loss for us and was a bit of a turning point. We went on an excellent run after that with only one defeat, so being able to react from that and for it not to go the other way when sometimes it can affect you negatively in terms of your upcoming games was big.

“Then we got results in all the big games. Especially against RedStar where we got the two late goals and it’s those key moments, taking points against the big teams home and away, which were important when we look back now.

“I’ve only been here a few seasons but knew it was important to the club and a lot of the lads who have been here a while now.

“Winning the league was always our main goal after coming close a couple of times leading into it, but we had it in our own hands which was all we wanted going into the final day. I suppose we couldn’t have asked for a better way to win it in the end!”

Attention now turns to the post-season competition where Athena host Perth RedStar at E&D Litis Stadium on Saturday, with the winners advancing straight to next Saturday’s final. The losers get a second chance against the winners of Stirling Macedonia and Sorrento.

Palmer said the focus was about ending the season on a high.

“That’s the main motivation now for all the lads. We’ve done well to win the league, we’ve won the Night Series early on, and then to finish with the treble would be a great goal for us to achieve,” he said.

“The other (top four) teams we play will be tough. They were around us in the league for a reason and will want to get their own back and show why they were up there this year, so none of the games will be easy. But I know all the lads are keen to get back out there and we know the importance of going again.”

Fuller agreed and added that there was a real hunger to complete the job for season 2022.

“There were a few tired boys after the game and the Saturday night, but we’re all competitive at the end of the day and want to win,” he said.

“We enjoy playing the game but when there’s silverware available, we want to win it. We don’t just want to make up the numbers and go through the motions because we’ve won the league.

“It’s back to business and it’s another competition where there’s a clean slate and a level playing field. It will be a hard game at the weekend, so we’ve got to prepare ourselves, dig deep, be disciplined and do our jobs. There’s 11 blokes on the pitch and if we do that we give ourselves a good chance of being successful again.”

In Saturday’s other semi-final Stirling Macedonia face off against Sorrento for the second time in a week for a winner-takes-all chance of extending their season.

The winners will meet the loser of Floreat’s match with RedStar in a midweek preliminary final, while the other will turn their attention towards season 2023.

Sorrento won last week’s Round 22 fixture between the teams 2-1 at Macedonia Park, with Gustavo Marulanda scoring a brace to lift the Gulls into the Top Four Cup at the expense of Bayswater. Trevor Morgan’s side are competing in the post-season for the second straight year, while Ian Ferguson’s Stirling will hope to celebrate an excellent first season back in the NPL with some silverware.




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