Southerners’ glory day

September 21 2009

Shepparton News

Shepparton South has experienced one of its most glorious days after taking out four premierships at the Goulburn North East Football Association grand finals held in Tatura yesterday.

South took home the day's biggest prizes, men's divisions one and two and the open women's title, along with the under-12s.

The afternoon was a throwback to the Southerners' first senior premiership in 1999 when the club swept every grade.

Breaking through in the association's top league for the first time since 2001, South defeated Shepparton United 2-0 with a pair of second-half goals.

Stuart Vance opened the scoring from close range after pouncing on a free kick and a sensational strike from Luke Nardella sealed the game as South unleashed a premiership celebration fitting for the end of an eightyear drought.

The women's match was a cagey affair but one goal in the first half was enough to take South's women to their maiden premiership.

South's Grace Zito got the last touch on a passage of play to score the winner, ending Shepparton United's threepremiership streak after the Blues were unable to score an equaliser.

The under-12 South team made it four premierships for the day by defeating Shepparton 2-1, while in men's division two a goal from Daniel Nardella was the difference against Cobram Victory in a 1-0 win.

Not every grade went to plan for South though, as its junior girls were defeated on penalties by Shepparton after an exciting match ended 2-2.

Shepparton also triumphed on penalties in the under-14 boys, defeating Shepparton United after another 2-2 draw.

Kialla United was the other winner yesterday as its dominant under16s ended the season in style with a 3-1 win against Tatura.