Thrilling win sends Polonia to final, Rovers cause major upset

Polonia have advanced to the men’s Federation Cup final after a thrilling win over Caledonians at the semifinal stage of the Great Southern Soccer Association season.

Finishing third in the league, Caledonians scored the first goal of the game through Lachlan Howarth 20 minutes into the first half.

Polonia levelled the scores after a Tom Hunt header found the back of the net with five minutes remaining before half-time.

Caledonians were matching the league champions and entered half time locked at 1-1.

Both sides had numerous chances to score in the last half but their respective defensive lines were up for the challenge.

With only minutes left it looked as though the game was going to extra time and possibly penalties as the sides could not be separated before Hunt stepped up to be the hero.

Hunt found himself in space and slammed the ball home inside the final two minutes, which proved the winner.

Two goals from Hunt guided Polonia through to the cup final, downing Caledonians 2-1.

Hunt was impressive all game giving plenty of drive for the winners.

Jared Wiegele continued to cause problems for the opposition defence while Jason Wilson and Cameron Spence were also strong contributors for Polonia.

Blu Thein, Ben Grey, Nic Fox and Kieran Loveridge were the better players for Caledonians.

Albany Rovers caused a major upset as they knocked out Phoenix to secured the remaining place in the final.

Both sides had their chances but could not convert till Brad Bielecki put Rovers ahead 1-0 after half an hour of the first half.

Rovers with a final berth in sight defended desperately as Phoenix gave everything they could to get back in the game but the underdogs prevailed, pulling off a cup shock to progress to the decider, 1-0.

Bradley Chapman was solid in defence for the Rovers while Bielecki was also vital in the win.

Polonia advanced to the men’s reserves cup final after downing Albany Royals 1-0 last Saturday.

Leon Kowalski scored for Polonia in the first half, the 1-0 half time score not changing in the second half.

Polonia defended well to hold Royals at bay in the second half and they now tackle Albany-Bayswater in the cup final on Saturday.

Meanwhile, men’s social/vets semifinals were played on Tuesday night.