The season ended the way it started for the three south west Sydney clubs in the Men’s 1 competition.
The Marconi Stallions have been relegated to the second tier after losing 2-0 to the Wolves in Wollongong in the last round of the premiership, which must be a bitter blow to one of the grand old names of Australian soccer.
Sydney United missed out on finals football after their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sydney Olympic.
Left to carry the flag for local soccer fans are Bonnyrigg, who claimed third spot after their 4-0 away win over the Rockdale Suns.
And the White Eagles didn’t just ensure they would be playing finals; they served notice they are real contenders for the title by demolishing the home side within 15 minutes, racing to a 3-0 lead.
Bonnyrigg coach Brian Brown was a happy man after the game.
“I didn’t even realise we had scored the first and when someone said it was a goal I said “oh my me” because you don’t see many hit the back of the net straight from a corner,” Brown said.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Coming here to Rockdale, last game of the season with them chasing a finals spot was always going to be a hard proposition and we knew that, particularly on a pitch that has had a hard season on it but our boys were superb today. [/social_quote]
“We were in a similar position to this a few weeks ago at Parramatta when we went into the break 3-1 up so we were mindful of that and credit the boys as they learnt from mistake.
“We felt that if we gave nothing away in the first 15 minutes of the second-half we would be ok and we took a punt today by resting a few players but they will be back for the finals and we’re looking forward to our next match now on the back of this, although it’s been the culmination of the whole season and not just a single result.”
ROUND 22 RESULTS:
Blacktown City FC 4-1 Sutherland Sharks FC, at Lilys Football Stadium;
Manly United FC 1-2 Parramatta FC, at Cromer Park;
APIA Leichhardt 4-4 Blacktown Spartans FC, at Lambert Park;
South Coast Wolves FC 2-0 Marconi Stallions FC, at WIN Stadium;
Sydney Olympic FC 1-0 Sydney United 58 FC, at Belmore Sports Ground;
Rockdale City Suns FC 0-4 Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC, at Ilinden Sports Centre.
