Oakleigh Cannons fire five goals past South Melbourne to win NPL championship

Oakleigh Cannons magical month of football continued with a sublime NPL Victoria grand final display destroying South Melbourne.

Oakleigh Cannons celebrate their NPL championship. Picture: Football Victoria

Oakleigh’s dream season has reached a new high, crowned NPL Victoria champions.

The Cannons smashed premiers and red-hot favourites South Melbourne 5-0 in the grand final at Olympic Village on Sunday night.

Aryn Williams opened the scoring in the first minute of the game and doubled Oakleigh’s lead in just the second minute of the second half on his way to the Jimmy Rooney Medal as best-on-ground.

It continues a remarkable month for the club, which has also reached the semi-final of the Australia Cup, upsetting Sydney FC a fortnight ago.

The Cannons will face Macarthur FC on Wednesday night for a spot in the final.

Oakleigh coach Chris Taylor said his team truly believed it could beat anyone.

“It’s all come together at the end of the season, as I’ve always said ‘it’s a marathon, not a sprint’, and to win the grand final is fantastic,” he said.

“There’s added flavour there, the way we outgunned them and put them to the sword was really good.

“Over the last four of five weeks – obviously we beat Sydney – we’ve had the confidence we can beat anyone.

“We don’t fear anyone and I think that showed, we played some nice football and could have had more goals as well.”

With just 48 seconds on the clock, Williams fought off his marker to head home a Joe Knowles corner and put Oakleigh in front.

The star defender was at it again just after the restart as a Knowles corner found its way to the back post for Williams to poke home.

The Cannons then put their rivals to the sword.

Aryn Williams celebrates a goal for Oakleigh Cannons.

Chris Lucas extended the lead in the 78th minute, which saw South Melbourne’s Marco Jankovic sent off at the same time.

With their rivals down to 10 men, Joe Guest made it four from the penalty spot and substitute Wade Dekker finished the rout in the 95th minute, heading home a Guest corner.

Taylor said the heavy rain actually helped his team.

“The conditions helped us a little bit, as soon as the rain came down the ball moved a lot quicker, which suited us,” he said.

“We’ve got players like Joe Knowles, who’s gone to the A-League now, we’ve got players that can carve defences open and we did that several times.

“Aryn scored the first two goals but he also defended really well, we obviously didn’t concede any goals, so he was voted man-of-the-match.

“When you win games like that it’s hard to single out individuals, the midfield was solid and compact, our defence was very good as was the goalkeeper and going forward we created chances all game.”

Knowles finished with four assists in a sublime display in difficult conditions.

Joe Guest in action for Oakleigh Cannons.

The Oakleigh forward’s season has been rewarded with an A-League contract with Brisbane Roar, meaning he will miss the Australia Cup semi-final.

“We’ll miss him but in saying that I think he only played 10 minutes against Sydney, so we’ve done it without him before and we’ll have to do it again,” Taylor said.

There was controversy before the game with Oakleigh given special dispensation to play former A-League goalkeeper Lewis Italiano.

The Cannons goalkeeping ranks had been decimated by injury all season and Italiano joined the club before its stunning win over Sydney FC.

Taylor said it was only fair his club was allowed to draft in a replacement.

“It’s been really hard for us, I know there’s a few people questioning why we’re allowed,” he said.

“There is a dispensation there and we’ve got six goalkeepers that are out, we didn’t even have a goalkeeper on the bench.

“We are severely depleted in that area but Lewis has come in and done really well, he’s got a lot of experience having played A-League and he’s been a good addition for us.”

It’s been an extraordinary month for Oakleigh.

The Cannons survived a penalty shootout to beat Heidelberg United in the elimination final after a 3-3 draw at the end of 120 minutes and went to extra-time again in the preliminary final against Port Melbourne.

The club also played 120 minutes against Brisbane City in the Australia Cup, winning 5-3 in extra-time after scores were 3-3 after 90 minutes.

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It must now back up on Wednesday against A-League opposition in the Cup semi-final.

“The pleasing part for me is we’ve performed under pressure, we’ve played 120 in two games and played Sydney,” Taylor said.

“In eight days we played two 120 minutes and played against Sydney and won all the games, so you’ve got to say that’s the catalyst to what we’ve done.

“The icing on the cake is Sunday’s result and … in the club’s 50th anniversary, so I’m very, very pleased for everyone involved.”