In the third round of the finals the Corrimal Rangers and Cringila Lions youth sides clashed, with the winner progressing to the grand final.
Cringila beat Consiton in penalties to progress to the semi-final, as Corrimal had a week of rest after a loss on penalties to Wollongong United.
Rangers midfielder Mackenzie Szelig spoke on the Ranger’s season as they finished second losing out on the Minor Premiership in the final game of the season to Wollongong United.
“Bit of a difficult season the boys ended up finishing second by one point,” Szelig said.
“For myself it was very hard as I’ve had a few injuries, first at the start of the year where I did a ligament in my ankle.
“Finally got back half way through the season and played a few games with the boys and we done pretty well.
“The boys done well and we ended up winning the youth cup.”
Looking at the game against the Lions it was a hard fought match as they went into extra time with a late equaliser through an own goal scored by Cringila’s Roman Kalmanidis.
The Rangers seemed to run out of gas as the game became one sided and the Lions put three past goalkeeper Joshua Micallef through substitutions of James Jovanoski, Jackson Nolan and Innocent Rubibi as they scored a combination of 4 goals.
Rangers fullback Christian Leone speaks up about the conclusion of the game as the Rangers fell apart.
“Right on the 90th minute before the whistle went we got an equaliser for an own goal, went to extra time,” said Leone.
“Team just folded after that and we lost 5-2.”
The Illawarra Premier League youth grade Grand Final between Minor Premiers Wollongong United and Cringila Lions will be played at Win Stadium at 12:15pm on Sunday September 17.
Corrimal Rangers midfielder Mackenzie Szelig opens up about his injuries throughout the season as he was forced to watch the semi final from the sidelines after an injury against Wollongong United. The Rangers faced off against the Cringila Lions to decide who would face minor premiers Wollongong United in the Grand Final. It was a hard-fought match in the first 90 minutes as the game looked it could go either way. The match was equalised at the death through a Cringila own goal to tie the game at 2-2. Cringila turned up in extra time and proved to be too strong for the Rangers as they put three past the Rangers and won the game 5-2.