In a see-sawing game that lasted 120 minutes, it was always going to take something special - or some luck - to split Wollongong Olympic and United on Sunday.
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In the end, it was a combination of both, with a deflection falling at the feet of Tynan Diaz 20 minutes into the second half of extra proving the difference between the Premier League rivals at Ian McLennan Park. A nice strike by Jake Trew eight minutes later than put the exclamation point on a 2-0 victory, as Olympic earned their ticket to this year's grand final.
It capped off a tight and tough affair between two sides that had plenty of opportunities to score.
"It was a good result. We didn't really want it to go to extra time, but we got the win in the end," Olympic midfielder Harry Callahan told the Mercury.
"With the squad depth that we've got, we were never really in doubt. United are a good team but we knew it we went out there and played our game, in the end we'd get the result.
"It's always good to get through to a grand final, that's what you train and play for all year."
The first chance came to United in the fourth minute on Sunday, with Klime Sekutkoski putting in a great through-ball for Mason Versi, but his shot slides over the cross bar.
But it was Olympic who started to build momentum, forcing a couple of corners.
The game continued to move from end to end for the opening 30 minutes, with both teams having half-chances, but not capitalising on them. Olympic's Sandy Lowcock nearly broke the deadlock soon after, but his shot hit the post and deflected away.
Substitute Liam Whiley also had a chance on the stroke of halftime to draw level, but his shot just slid wide, meaning the score remained 0-0 at the break.
United came firing out of the blocks in the second, with a beautiful cross setting up Kyah Jovanovski from short range, forcing Olympic gloveman Justin Pasfield to make a great save. At the other end, Jake Trew had a chance through a header, but was denied by goalkeeper Jacob Madden.
Substitute Jeremy Flanagan also had a chance halfway through the stanza, but his curling shot went over the cross bar.
Lowcock appeared to score in the 74th minute, with a nice save by Madden denying him from short range. For United, Dinko Terzic was looming as a presence for Olympic's defence, but he couldn't cash in on a couple of opportunities.
Heading into the final 10 minutes, Whiley found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, with his shot deflecting to Tynan Diaz, who was also shut down by the United defence.
Despite both teams attacking for the remainder of the half, the score remained 0-0 at fulltime, sending the game into extra time.
United defenders Ben Brooks and Sean Thomas nearly emerged as the unlikely heroes in the opening minutes of extra time, but their headers were denied by Olympic on the line.
It continued to be end-to-end football in the first half of extra time, but the score remained a stalemate at the break.
Three minutes into the second stanza, Olympic had a great chance via a cross to Mark Every, but his header just went over the bar.
The miss would matter little. Soon after, Mason Mavridis found himself on-one-one with Madden, who could only parry the ball towards Diaz who drilled home the goal for Olympic in the 110th minute.
United continued to attack for the remainder of the stanza, but it was their rivals who put the game beyond doubt, with Trew finding the back of the net to extend their lead to 2-0 after 118 minutes. And that's how the score remained at fulltime.
The result means that Olympic will now enjoy a week off before the grand final, while United faces a sudden-death match-up with the Lions in next week's preliminary final after thrashing Bulli 4-0 on Sunday.
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
