By: Joseph Arthur
It was a dream weekend for Surrey Park last Saturday, as the club secured its first senior finals berth in 13 years with a 186-point victory over Nunawading at home.
After Silvan dispatched of Croydon North MLOC by 276-points earlier in the day, Surrey Park needed a win of at least 185 points to steal fourth spot from Silvan.
At the end of the third term finals looked to be slipping away for the Panthers, needing to increase their lead by 11 goals if their percentage was going to be enough to topple Silvan.
Senior coach Scott Hamill said he was exhausted after the game, the drama of the final term was almost too much to handle.
“It was definitely exhausting; I think I walked about 3km up and down the boundary line trying to push the goals through myself,” Hamill said.
“Coming in at three-quarter time we knew we needed 11 goals and to the boys’ credit, we just went long, direct and straight and our two big forwards in Chris Smith and Mick Paolini (pictured below) got the job done for us.
“We kicked the goal to put us in (finals) with about a minute to go I think.”
In the end, it was elation for Hamill and his men as Smith converted in the final minute and brought an end to the club’s 13-year finals drought.
Hamill said after the final goal was scored there was some confusion as to what had just happened, but as the final siren went, the entire club was on its feet.
“No-one really knew what was going on (after the final goal), the crowd knew we needed a certain amount of goals but I think everyone thought we we’re going to fall short,” he said.
“I got told afterwards they (the players) knew we’d got through from the reaction on the bench – we were pretty excited about it.
“The best thing was walking off the ground and seeing the supporters, the presidents and past presidents, people who have been here for so long. There were tears in people’s eyes and it was great to see.”
Surrey Park will face Fairpark this Sunday and the game will be quite the occasion as it’s Fairpark’s first final since 2008, after the club broke a drought of its own.
Winning three of its last four matches, including handing top of the table East Burwood only its second loss of the season last weekend, third-placed Fairpark is poised for a deep finals push.
The Lions have not experienced a finals win since 1997, while Surrey Park has never won an EFL final.
Fairpark senior coach Sean Stanton said the team’s finals campaign has been in the making for a long time.
“12 years it’s been – it’s been a long time coming so there’s a lot of excitement around the club at the moment,” Stanton said.
Despite the opposition qualifying for finals by less than one per cent, Stanton said he has the utmost respect for the Panthers and won’t underestimate them.
“They’ve (Surrey Park) got a really strong midfield and two outstanding forwards in Chris Smith and (Mick) Paolini,” Stanton said.
“We really need to make sure we can nullify the influence of their midfield (and) if we can win the midfield battle that’ll go a long way to holding us in good stead for the game.
“We’re not really putting any pressure on ourselves, we’ve spoken about the reasons we play football and the feedback was because we enjoy it and that was the focus last Saturday.
“Obviously there’s a bit more on the line but if we stick to what we’ve done throughout the year and we work hard and we enjoy ourselves, hopefully that will result in a good outcome for us on Sunday.”
Both sides will come into the game at full strength, allowing for the highest quality football possible in what’s sure to be a tight contest.
