Avondale FC goalkeeper Chris Oldfield confident of success ahead of the club’s maiden NPL finals appearance
GOALKEEPER Chris Oldfield is confident NPL finals debutant Avondale FC has enough experience to push for its first piece of top-flight silverware.
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GOALKEEPER Chris Oldfield is confident National Premier League finals debutant Avondale FC has enough experience to push for its first piece of top-flight silverware.
The Avengers will make their maiden appearance of the NPL finals stage this weekend against Oakleigh Cannons, having finished third after a 1-0 victory over Port Melbourne Sharks on Sunday.
Avondale FC boasts players with A-League experience such as captain Massimo Murdocca and playmaker Jonatan Germano.
Oldfield has featured in NPL finals in previous years with Hume City, one of several players in the Avengers’ first-team squad to have experienced the big stage.
The shot stopper, widely regarded as one of Victoria’s best keepers, said Avondale FC would not be daunted by the finals spotlight.
“The club at the start of the year sat all the players down and said, ‘listen lads, this year, all we want you to go for is finals’,” Oldfield said.
“They didn’t put any pressure on us, (but) we were top of the league for 12 rounds and through players getting injured, players leaving for overseas and players wanting to go to other clubs, we ended up having a bit of a bad patch.
“If we had have kept those players we had at the start of the year, you never know, we could have pushed to win it, which would have been far beyond the expectations of the club. Next year, they might want a bit more.”
Oldfield has been crucial to Avondale’s finals tilt since crossing from Hume City, leading the competition’s stingiest defence.
Avondale has only conceded 21 goals from 26 matches, giving it a better record than champion Heidelberg United (26) and runner-up South Melbourne (28).
“Our defence has played against the big teams already and we have lost a few games but we have definitely beaten a few of the big boys too with that defence,” Oldfield said.
Oldfield said there was nothing between the six contenders, predicting an “interesting” finals series was in store.
“We have beaten South Melbourne twice but then South Melbourne beat Bentleigh and Bentleigh beat us twice,” he said.
Saturday’s elimination final kicks off at 3pm at Knights Stadium.
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