VAFA club UHS-VU wins Division 1 preliminary final after-the-siren in extra-time despite trailing all day
VAFA club UHS-VU conjured the most remarkable of victories in Saturday’s preliminary final, trailing all day yet emerging with a win coach Brendan Payne described as “the most amazing day of football”.
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How does a team win a final where it never leads?
Victorian Amateur Football Association club UHS-VU claimed the most remarkable of preliminary final wins on Saturday, clinching a three-point victory over Peninsula after the siren in extra-time.
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The Vultures trailed by three points when the siren sounded to end the second period of extra-time, seconds after Lucas Czajko marked about 35m from goal.
Czajko’s set shot put UHS-VU in front for the first time in the Division 1 prelim as the club clinched its third consecutive promotion, 10.21 (81) to 12.6 (78).
“The most amazing day of football I have ever been involved in,” coach Brendan Payne said.
“We were thereabouts all day but we just couldn’t hit the front.
“If you come from five goals down, it takes so much energy out of you.
“If you get it back to four points and then they kick one … I was really worried that we hadn’t hit the front.
“But you dream about days like yesterday … it was a pretty emotional day.”
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Payne said he never doubted Czajko’s ability to deliver under almighty pressure.
“He had a sighter probably 20 minutes earlier at the other end from the same distance and didn’t make the distance,” he said.
“Probably would have been a little bit nervous. The siren went probably two seconds, three seconds after he took the mark.
“There was no doubt, he had to have a shot.”
The 20-year-old said he didn’t understand the enormity of his kick until long after the match was over.
“I thought we had to win the grand final to get up to Premier C, so I didn’t think about that at all,” Czajko said.
“That probably helped.”
Czajko was mobbed by his teammates and Vultures suppporters who stormed the ground.
“I almost passed out,” he said.
“Everyone jumped on top of me and each other, then all the crowd got involved.
“It was good fun. The whole day, we were trying real hard and it didn’t feel like we were going to get there.
“We kept peppering the goals the whole last quarter and in extra-time. It just didn’t feel like it was going to happen, then it did.”
While Czajko ultimately proved the hero, the efforts of Ben and James Dimattina were pivotal to wrenching back Peninsula’s 23-point quarter-time lead.
James Dimattina kicked a late goal which sent the match into extra-time, however inaccuracy almost proved UHS-VU’s downfall.
The Vultures had 20 scoring shots to eight after halftime, yet registered 6.14 to 5.3 after the main break.
“We didn’t lead all day,” Payne said.
“They kicked five goals to one in the first quarter with a bit of a breeze.
“We got it back to about eight points in the second quarter … then in the third quarter against the wind we outscored them.
“We went in four points down at three-quarter-time. With the wind in the last quarter, we probably thought we had the game in our grasp at three-quarter-time.
“Then we kicked five points for the quarter, they kicked a goal to go six points up and James Dimattina kicked a goal with about 2-3 minutes to go which forced it to extra-time.”
UHS-VU will be chasing its third consecutive premiership when it meets Preston Bullants in the Division 1 decider.
The Vultures were playing in Division 3 as recently as 2017, but will compete in Premier C — the third tier of the VAFA — in 2020.
Originally published as VAFA club UHS-VU wins Division 1 preliminary final after-the-siren in extra-time despite trailing all day