Albion Park win 2023 Illawarra Premier League premiership

Heading into the third-last round of the 2023 regular season, Albion Park had accumulated 47 competition points and held a nine-point advantage over their nearest rivals Cringila.

It meant that George Antoniou's men simply needed at least a draw in round 20 - or in the ensuing final two rounds of the competition - to raise the silverware. Instead, they did it in emphatic fashion at Rex Jackson Oval on Saturday.

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Helensburgh had threatened to spoil the party when they jumped out to a 2-1 lead late in the first stanza. However, Taiga Kitajima's goal on the stroke of halftime helped them equalise 2-2 at the break.

Brendan Fordham's penalty in the 61^st minute gave the visitors an important 3-2 lead, which Kitajima extended to a two-goal advantage just four minutes later. The Japanese import then found the back of the net two more times in the final 20 minutes to take his tally to four goals for the day.

The victory means that the White Eagles take the minor premiership mantle off last year's winners, Wollongong United.

It's a dream result for Antoniou in his maiden season at the helm for Albion Park.

The former Olympic mentor has steered the side to 16 wins from 20 rounds so far, and will now set his sights on completing the premiership double in 2023.

"It feels unbelievable, mate. It's been a long, tough year and I'm so proud of the boys and the club. It's really satisfying," Antoniou told the Mercury.

"Where the club was last year, we just wanted to improve on last year and our goal was always semi-finals - and anything above that would be a bonus. But as the season went on, our goals changed a little bit and got a bit higher, and this was our target towards the end."

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