Croydon Kings have enjoyed a winning start to the 2015 South Australia PlayStation 4 National Premier League season with a last-gasp 2-1 result against MetroStars at Adelaide Shores Football Centre.
Andreas Wiens opened the scoring for the Kings in the Grand Final replay, but Perry Mitris equalised after the interval. Michael Doyle popped up to net in his Croydon debut in injury time.
Croydon coach Mark Brazzale was pleased to record a first-up win.
“I’m very happy. I thought we were disciplined and showed good structure,” he said.
“I thought we were the better side in the second half and we could have sealed the game earlier than we did, unfortunately we let them back in it with a soft goal. But the fight shown in the last 10-15 minutes was great. It’s a good sign of strength.
“We started the season well, Metro are a decent team, but there is a long way to go.”
MetroStars coach Michael Pirone says he is not worried despite the loss.
“They had the better chances and we dominated possession for longer periods. They were good on the counter and we didn’t cope as well as we should have,” he said.
“Two moments of concentration cost us, especially in the last minute, but in saying that both sides missed chances. I don’t have any complaints as the guys followed my instructions.
“There are a few small deficiencies, but we demonstrated we’re better prepared than I thought we might be.
“Metro are notorious slow starters. It’s still early, there are no problems for us. We’ll be around the mark.”
The Kings took the lead after an evenly poised opening to the game when Rocky Visconte’s drilled cross was superbly guided past Daniel Godley by striker Wiens.
Godley was then forced into a good save and with the goal at his mercy Chris Pepe fired the rebound over the top.
Steven Grelli had MetroStars best chance of the first half when he struck the woodwork directly from a corner.
Croydon missed the chance to double their advantage after the interval when Shaun McGreevy saw his shot hit the crossbar.
A sweeping MetroStars move ended with Mitris cutting on to his left foot and finishing past Nicholas Munro in the Kings goal.
Mitris nearly repeated the trick, but this time Munro kept out the 2014 Golden Boot winner.
A late Visconte free kick drew a fine save from Godley and the game seemed destined to end in a draw.
Yet in the third minute of time added on Visconte’s near post cross was swept home by Doyle to give the champions a winning start to the new campaign.
Image courtesy of FFSA