Bonnyrigg White Eagles are the NSW National Premier Leagues Premiers after a dramatic final day of action in the Men's 1 state competition.
Blacktown City's astonishing 7-0 win over Blacktown Spartans in the Match of the Round opened the door for Bonnyrigg, who were playing Sydney Olympic in a later kick-off at Lambert Park. It looked like they had blown it, but Robbie Younis' last-gasp winner won the White Eagles the prize.
Match of the Round
Blacktown Spartans 0-7 Blacktown City, at Blacktown Football Park
What a result.
Blacktown Spartans' capitulation at the hand of Mark Crittenden's Blacktown City will long be remembered as one of the most shocking results in the history of state league football. A draw or better would have done it for Spartans, but their disastrous performance was Devon Loch, only worse.
The stage was set at Blacktown Football Park for Spartans to crown a superb season, but Blacktown City had other ideas. That they scored seven beggars belief.
They took the lead when Shayne D'Cunha scored from a set piece and although they were on top, nobody would have predicted that they'd score six more.
Ryuiji Miyazawa scored a late contender for goal of the season shortly after, lashing a fizzing strike into the top corner, before Kearyn Baccus made it 3-0 when he converted from the spot after Luak Dukic fouled Travis Major.
Spartans battled at the start of the second half, but couldn't resist any longer when Matthew Lewis arrived to score the fourth. Substitute Mitchell Mallia went on in the 65' minute and added three goals in the space of only 11' minutes, to take the score from 4-0 to 7-0.
Carlos Saliadarre, the Spartans captain, made a number of fantastic saves and Blacktown City could easily have scored 12 goals on an astonishing afternoon. Saliadarre was the only Spartans player who showed up on a terrible afternoon for the club.
Round 22 Review
Bonnyrigg White Eagles 1-0 Sydney Olympic, at Lambert Park
Bonnyrigg White Eagles' match against Sydney Olympic was moved from Bonnyrigg Sports Centre to Lambert Park after the torrential rain of Saturday night and Sunday morning.
But it meant that the game couldn't be played until 6pm because of matches already scheduled at the venue.
By the time kick off rolled around, Bonnyrigg White Eagles knew of Blacktown City's thrashing of Blacktown Spartans, and therefore knew that three points would win them the premiership.
It wasn't going to plan though against an Olympic side guaranteed fourth place after Rockdale City Suns' loss to Manly. Olympic attacked with intent and had a few decent opportunities that were well saved by substitute goalkeeper Tristan Prendergast.
With only seconds left in regulation time, veteran sharp shooter Robbie Younis cut inside on his right foot and curled a shot into the bottom corner to win the premiership for Bonnyrigg White Eagles and give them a week off in the first week of the finals.
Rockdale City Suns 1-3 Manly United, at Cromer Park
The weather meant that Rockdale's home game against Manly United had to be moved to Cromer Park. It wasn't ideal for Rockdale City and their loss condemned them to fifth place and a semi final against Sydney Olympic next weekend.
Manly scored three penalties to win the match.
Chris Payne converted twice from the spot while Daniel Saric scored once.
Nikola Taneski got one back for Rockdale City but it wasn't close to enough to see the Suns place any pressure on Olympic in their later kick-off.
St George 0-2 Marconi Stallions, at Lilys Football Centre
Marconi Stallions ended a seven-game winless streak by beating St George 2-0 at another relocated match, at Lilys Football Centre.
Milorad Simonovic opened the scoring for the Stallions in the first half, which snuffed out St George's hopes of a club championship miracle.
Shu Sasaki added a second in stoppage time to guarantee Stallions a happy end to an often trying season, while St George will "win" the wooden spoon in their debut Men's 1 season.
Sydney United 58 FC 3-3 Sutherland Sharks, at Sydney United Sports Centre
This one of the few games that had little riding on it and the freedom seemed to release the shackles from both sides in an entertaining 3-3 draw.
Luka Glavas was playing his final league game for the Reds after announcing his retirement earlier in the week and scored twice on his farewell appearance at Edensor Park, while Alec Urosevski also found the back of the net.
Anthony Tomelic found the back of his own net, while Panni Nikas broke his own goal drought with two goals, including one from the spot.
South Coast Wolves 5-1 APIA-Leichhardt Tigers, at WIN Stadium
South Coast Wolves wrapped up a seventh placed finish by thrashing APIA-Leichhardt Tigers in Wollongong.
It was a huge credit to Wolves' coach Nahuel Arrarte that they could wrap up such a wonderful finish to the season, especially given the predicament they were in when Arrarte took over from Richard Lloyd two months into the season.
Jordan Murray scored twice for Wolves. Mitchell Del Turco, Lachlan Reus and a late goal from Darcy Madden added a real gloss to Wolves' spectacular recovery season.
Marc Warren scored the consolation for APIA-Leichhardt, who will not look back on this season with any fondness whatsoever.
More information about the competitions can be found at www.nplnsw.com.au
Image courtesy of Football NSW.