Gold Coast Knights win NPL grand final 2-1 against Olympic in front of 3127 fans at Perry Park

The Gold Coast Knights are the 2019 NPL champions but the club’s boss insists the dramatic grand final triumph over Olympic is just the beginning of their mission.

GOLD Coast Knights chief executive Adem Poric insists the dramatic grand final triumph over Olympic is not the end of their NPL mission, but the beginning.

The Knights made no secret of their intention for immediate NPL success in their debut campaign and they delivered on that ambition with a 2-1 win in the championship decider in front of 3127 fans at Perry Park.

An eighth-minute goal from Nick Panetta gave the Knights the perfect start before defender Oskar Dillon doubled the lead in the 64th minute with a spectacular long-range freekick.

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Their victory was not without drama however, with Jarrod Kyle sent off in the first half for a second yellow card before Matt Smith turned a ball into his own net in the 90th minute to give Olympic a glimmer of hope.

The win is the first time NPL silverware has returned to the Coast since Palm Beach won the double in 2014, but having finished second in the league and fallen short of their FFA Cup Round of 32 appearance of 2018, Poric said there was unfinished business for the Knights in 2020 and beyond.

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The Gold Coast Knights celebrate with fans after Oskar Dillon’s second-half goal. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

“This is the first part of our long-term project,” he said.

“We made no bones about it at the start of the year what our ambitions were. We don’t want to be finishing mid-table, the reality is we want to go out and win things.

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“We want to bring high-level football back to the Coast where it belongs and this is the highest level we can play at. We want to be a club that the Gold Coast is proud of having there.”

Entering the game on the back of eight-straight victories, Poric said the Knights were always confident they could keep their unbeaten record against Olympic intact.

Roman Hofmann and Costa Psaros battle for possession. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

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“For sure, we’d won eight in a row,” he said.

“We knew exactly what we were doing. We knew their strengths and weaknesses. Grae (Piddick, coach) set everyone up for the result and we got it.

“We went down to 10 men and I think (Olympic) had one shot at us in the second half and that was it. I thought they were poor.

“They’ve got the most lethal attack in the comp. They should have done better, we were down to 10 men but we kept fighting.”