Maitland FC old boys and supporters crammed the change rooms and joined in a huge rendition of the club’s song with the players after the Magpies secured the final spot in the NPL semi-finals with a 2-0 win against Broadmeadow.
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Members of the under-20s team took special place as they sang the song for the second time after claiming the club’s first minor premiership in the top echelon since 1980 when they beat Magic 2-0 in the earlier game.
The 18s also ended the season with a win, beating Magic by the same margin at Cooks Square Park on Saturday.
In first grade Ryan Clarke scored off a goalmouth scramble after a Matt Thompson corner in 25th minute. Liam Thornton made it 2-0 in the 63rd with a header off a Thompson free kick.
“Unbelievable, that was our target at the beginning of the year to make the top four. We’ve done that now,” Magpies captain Carl Thornton said after the match.
“We made it tough for ourselves losing some games to teams that finished bottom of the table, but we’ve beaten some of the top teams in the last few weeks so we probably deserve it.
“We’ve done pretty well against the top teams this year, it’s been the teams down the bottom that we’ve struggled against, so we won’t be afraid of anyone in the top four at all.
“We’ve knocked off Magic now we beat Jaffas the other week and we’ve had some good results against Edgey, we drew a couple of weeks ago.”
Thornton said the Magpies defence had been excellent in the second half of the year and was instrumental in Maitland making the finals.
“We’ve done well as a team in the last round. After the loss to Weston.where we got beat 3-2.we made a few adjustments, myself going into the midfield and we’ve only conceded a few goals in the last round of football,” he said
“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys, they have just dug in did their jobs and got the results for it.”
Thornton said the win against Magic was the result of another great defensive effort and speed up front on the counter-attack
“We were always going to be dangerous on the counter-attack. They were missing a few boys but we were always going to look dangerous up forward we’ve got speed up front,” he said.
“We had a few good chances early and didn’t capitalise on them but credit to the boys they stuck with and we got a 1-nil lead and then got another one in the second half.”
The Magpies first graders finished third on 34 points, beating Lambton Jaffas on goal difference after the defending champions earlier lost 2-1 to Lake Macquarie at Macquarie Field.
The result left Hamilton a point behind the top four after they defeated Weston 2-0 at Darling Street Oval, also on Saturday night
Broadmeadow finished second on 35 points and meet Maitland in the two-leg semi-finals. Jaffas dropped to fourth and will play premiers Edgeworth (43), who finish against Valentine at CB Complex on Sunday.
Minor premiers
Maitland’s under-20s are now aiming for back-to-back premierships after securing the club’s first minor premiership in the top echelon since 1980 with a 2-0 win against Broadmeadow Magic.
Tommy Duggan opened the scoring for the Magpies and Isaac Hampson sealed the win with a second.
Maitland and Broadmeadow had gone into the match equal top on points and with the same goal difference, but the Magpies who had scored fewer goals needed the win to claim the minor premiership.
The young guns delivered and then a number including Duggan backed up on the bench in first grade.
Hamilton finished second with a 7-0 thumping of Weston, Broadmeadow are third and Newcastle Jets Youth fourth.
Maitland play the Jets in a two-leg semi-final for a place in the grand final.