MILDURA City secured the S-League senior men’s double following a 3-0 win in Sunday’s grand final against Irymple Knights.
The closest of foes for the entire 2023 season met again in the finals series decider, and it was the league champions who added to the trophy cabinet for an even greater celebration of their 50th year as a club.
In a first half that saw both teams create scoring opportunities, City attacker Domenic Ghidinelli opened the account in the 41st minute to take the lead into half-time.
Full back Sam Bozzi doubled the advantage with a goal from outside the box in the 75th minute before Brandon Pollifrone sealed the victory with a penalty with minutes remaining.
After the pre-season round robin cup, City won 13 of a possible 14 games, scoring 57 times and conceding only 10 goals, four of which came in their loss to Knights in round 8.
City captain Jacob Rodi said a strong squad mentality helped his side to surge towards two trophies or the year.
“It was a really highly contested game and both sides probably had their chances in the first half,” he said.
“We were fortunate to get ours in which probably helped out momentum but Knights were definitely creating some chances of their own.”
Rodi admitted the team didn’t start the season in the best fashion in the pre-season cup, but quickly found their confidence after banking some early wins.
“We’ve always tried to have that group mentality that allows young players to really come up and fight for a spot, and also every single player form our reserves is more than capable of playing at senior level,” he said.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the group and what they’ve done this year.
“Hopefully next year we’ll have a pretty similar line-up but we’ll come together again once summer comes around.”
City defensive unit for Rodi, Bozzi, Joseph Muscatello and best and fairest winner Lukas Pedder, who was best on ground in the grand final, have provided a solid base all season, conceding less than a goal per game on average.
“We tried really to maintain the same back four throughout the entire season which I think played a role in us keep goals down, and those games where we did concede were when we were forced to make changes,” Rodi said.
“It’s also been the same unit for nearly two or three years and even though Lukas Pedder dropped into centre back this year he’s always been defensive midfielder so he was always really part of that unit.
“He was best on field in the grand final and won our best and fairest on Sunday as well so he’s been massive.
“We’re really proud of not only our efforts but everyone across the board, when we’ve given the ball to the guys ahead of us they’ve done the work to make sure we score.”
