Fortuna 60 have pulled off the upset win of the season after defeating Traralgon City 2-1 on Sunday to book a grand final date against Tyers Lightning in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League’s women’s division.
The Roosters were aiming to do the treble after winning the league and Browne Huiser Cup but were unable to overcome their less fancied opponents.
The game was abandoned after a City player received a serious leg injury in the second half when Fortuna was ahead 2-1.
On Tuesday the league issued a statement confirming the incident had been investigated and “the match deemed to have been completed with a 2 goal to 1 victory recorded in favour of Fortuna”.
Fortuna coach Greg Shankland said while was not “the best way” for the game to finish he was proud of his team’s achievement.
“They’ve worked hard and the team we played last weekend hadn’t been beaten before; they were the league title holders the Browne Huiser Cup winners,” Shankland said.
“It’s a big ask, but they made it – they’ve developed quickly and the club itself is really, really with the way they came along.
“It’s just down to working for each other, commitment and morale.”
Fortuna managed to finish fourth this year and progressed to the final of the Browne Huiser Cup, where they lost 5-0 to the Roosters.
Tyers finished second this year after long being the team to beat in the women’s competition.
Shankland said his team faced an uphill battle to overcome the Lightning and said he hoped his team learned from the experience.
“They’re a very astute side, very well organised but they’ve been playing together for years,” he said.
“But we’re learning and whatever happens on the day the club and myself will be very proud of the girls.”
Tyers defeated Monash SC 2-0 to make the final and club president Jennifer Pridgeon said the team was peaking at the right time.
“I went and watched he game on Sunday and they put together a good 90 minutes on the weekend and they’ll use that as motivation to put that on the pitch again this week,” Pridgeon said.
“I suppose they had a bit of a lull during the season when their coach went overseas, but they’ve used the couple of losses and not finishing on top as motivation to get them through to this grand final.”
She said having experienced players such as Abbey Taylor, Renee Vidler and goalkeeper Stephanie Pridgeon spread across the field would help ease the team in the grand final.
Despite that, Pridgeon said the Lightning would not underestimate their foes.
“They realise that with Fortuna beating City that they shouldn’t take them lightly,” she said.
“That’s the message that (coach) Katie (Goodman) will get through to them this week at training.”
The game kicks off at Morwell’s Crinigan Reserve, Crinigan Road at 3pm.
