Nepean FC promoted to League One in 2024
Nepean FC have won promotion and will be playing in the League One Men’s competition for the 2024 season after holding out the Mounties Wanderers to a scoreless draw at Cook Park on Saturday – Nepean FC going through following its 3-2 victory in the first leg.
It is the first time Nepean FC have been promoted to the state’s second tier while it was a year to forget for the Mounties Wanderers who will be playing in the League Two Men’s competition next season.
Nepean made two changes from their first-leg victory, with Kamran Qayumi coming in at right-back, with Richard Stewart switching to left-back for the suspended Paolo Laxamana following his red card in the first leg.
Meanwhile, Mounties named an unchanged line-up.
Mounties kicked off from right to left and wanted to start with intent as they chased survival, but an even first ten minutes saw both teams try to find their feet.
The first chance of the match fell to Mounties’ Andre Schroeder, who struck his attempt just wide of the right-hand post following a failed high claim from Nepean goalkeeper, Justin Biega.
The match looked tense and neither team was able to make any progress in or around the other team’s penalty area early on.
Nepean’s first meaningful shot on target came from midfielder Lachlan Sepping, who stepped up and took a free-kick directly in front from 20 yards out from the Mounties goal, but struck the dead ball straight at Mounties goalkeeper, Thomas Sutton.
Mounties immediately countered from that claim.
Anthony Vastag got on the end of a long ball down the field and headed a looping effort towards the top-right corner, which looked destined to nestle in the back of the net.
However, Biega dived to his left and tipped the ball just over the crossbar, miraculously.
The match was tame at the start but Mounties started to assert their authority with their long balls down the field and pace up front, particularly through Kuot Maliet on the left wing.
Mounties’ next chance came when Kye Soares gave away the ball in midfield for Nepean; Marko Filipovic won the ball for Mounties and drove down the field and lobbed the ball into the box for Vastag, but Biega claimed the ball well.
Jack Hoban fulfilled his defensive duties as a winger well for Nepean as he stopped Mounties from getting into the box on the half-hour mark.
Shun Maeta had a shout for a penalty turned down in the 34th minute after he used clever footwork to get into the box; the home side was threatening.
Filipovic continued to threaten for Mounties with his pace down the left; he had a dangerous cross in the 41st minute which was headed over by Vastag in the middle.
Mounties defended well towards the end of the first half to keep Nepean out when they won the ball high up the field, which Nepean did increasingly to end the half.
A tense first 45 minutes saw Nepean maintain their one-goal aggregate lead – the second leg was scoreless at half-time.
The second half started tamely; neither side was able to fashion a real chance at goal, but the players and crowd fought hard for every decision.
Harrison Fox and Andre Cavallaro came on in the 68th minute as Nepean looked to freshen up their side and Fox set up Cavallaro immediately following a through ball from Soares, but Cavallaro’s right-footed strike was saved well down to his right by Sutton.
Nepean turned the screws as they continued to attack following their substitutions.
In the 73rd minute, a long ball from Nepean centre-half Mason Ingram found space in front of Fox down the left flank, but Mounties’ defender Poda Da slid in with perfect timing and put the ball out of play.
Ingram was involved once again as he put in a crucial tackle to stop another Mounties counter-attack.
Mounties pushed for the equalising goal on aggregate as the volume from players, coaches and the crowd increased.
Nepean Head Coach Stephen Appleby could be heard telling Qayumi to stay back; he did not want his side exposed down the flanks late on with the pace of the Mounties wingers.
In the 82nd minute, Maeta had a header for Mounties cleared away by the Nepean defence and they continued to show their ability to work out of their own end as they countered down the field.
The Nepean centre-halves of Ingram and Mitchell King continued to be solid as they won headers late on.
Sutton was worked late as he saved an effort well down low to his right from a long-range Nepean effort.
A Nepean goal here would have settled the playoff and the whole ground knew as much.
The match was thrown into chaos late – from a corner from the right for Mounties, the ball had beaten Biega and looked to be destined for the back of the net from a header, and Schroeder got the final touch which put the ball in the back of the net.
The crowd celebrated prematurely and were silenced when they realised the goal was ruled out from Schroeder’s offside finish.
In the 89th minute, Sutton saved well to his left from a shot from Nepean for Fox as he kept his side in the tie.
Nepean looked to hold the ball in the corner in stoppage-time – they were not about to let history slip late.
One last claim from Biega following four minutes of stoppage-time saw the end of the match as the referee blew the whistle to signal full-time.
Reality sunk in – Nepean FC won promotion to the 2024 League One Men’s competition, while Mounties Wanderers FC were doomed to relegation to the League Two Men’s competition for 2024.
A 0-0 draw away was enough for Nepean after their 3-2 first-leg win, which meant Nepean FC took out the tie 3-2 on aggregate.
The Nepean players and staff burst onto the field at full-time to celebrate and gathered together to commemorate with a group photo – they had achieved the goal they set out for this season.
Speaking post-match, Nepean FC Head Coach Stephen Appleby spoke on how proud he was of his squad for gaining promotion.
“Emotions are quite high – it is fantastic for the club, fantastic for the staff, fantastic for the players,” Appleby said.
Appleby gave praise to his whole side for playing to their strengths and holding their nerve across the two legs, starting with goalkeeper, Justin Biega.
“That one save [from Biega], he got to the top corner and flipped it behind – superb.
“Then, you add the boys in the backline who were good throughout with solid defending.
“It was a bit of a bobbly pitch but there were pockets we could play [and] I thought [the midfield] did quite a decent job.
“You’d love to keep the same players on for the whole 90 minutes but that doesn’t happen, especially in the front third. The boys that came on [also] did a good job.”
Nepean FC ended the season, including these two playoff legs, fifteen matches unbeaten and Appleby put that down to their defence.
“We take pride in keeping those clean sheets.”
The club will celebrate their achievements this season and Appleby is aware of the challenge next year will bring.
“Next season, the goal will be to really establish ourselves in that league and make sure we are a hard team to beat, week in and week out.”
As for Mounties Wanderers FC, their late-season fightback ended in heartbreak and relegation to the League Two Men’s competition for 2024.
They will hope to regroup and re-establish their squad; they will make a hard push for promotion back up to League One Men’s next season.
By Football New South Wales League Two Men’s Reporter, Dylan Costa @_dylancosta
