Coniston are now just 90 minutes away from a grand-final berth after coming from behind to beat Wollongong Olympic 2-1 in Saturday's Premier League elimination final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In an absorbing battle at JJ Kelly Park, Toby Norval's strike midway through the second half proved the difference as Cono prevailed to book their place in next week's preliminary final, where they will meet either Albion Park or Cringila.
Despite Coniston being in control for most of the game, Olympic had jumped out to an early lead via Yuto Sugiura, which was cancelled out by Sam Matthews' goal before halftime. Both teams then had their chances after the break, but only Norval could find the back of the net around the 75th minute mark to secure victory.
"We actually lost to these boys and had a draw with them during the season, so it was awesome to get the win against them," Norval told the Mercury post-match.
"The boys were amazing today. When we played them last time, Olympic were all over us, but today it was a complete shift. We destroyed them and got the reward."
Coniston will now wait to see who they will meet in the preliminary final, with champions Albion Park and Cringila going head-to-head at Wetherall Park on Sunday. The winner of that match goes straight into this year's grand final, while the losing side will face Cono next week.
"It's my first time getting this far in the Illawarra Premier League," Norval said.
"It's really awesome and a good experience, and I'm sure the boys will do well next week."
Coniston dominated possession and created plenty of chances early in the opening 15 minutes on Saturday, but it was Olympic who skipped away to a 1-0 lead when a long ball found Sugiura and the Japanese talent danced around a defender before beating goalkeeper Kaydin Harrison.
Despite that setback, Cono continued to play positive and patient football. They were finally rewarded with about five minutes left in the stanza when Sam Matthews found the back of the net to equalise at 1-1. That's how the score remained at halftime.
There was huge controversy early in the second stanza when Olympic appeared to score their second goal. However, the referee had blown the whistle for a Coniston free kick.
The game then settled into an end-to-end-pattern, with both teams missing their opportunities, before Norval nailed his moment, winding up from the edge of the box to power home the match-winner.
The result means that Olympic won't be able to repeat their grand-final winning heroics of 2022. In fact, the 2023 decider will be the first one since 2017 to not feature either Olympic or Wollongong United.
Saturday's defeat came less than a week after Olympic fell 3-2 in an extra-time classic to Cringila.
"We got 1-0 up and maybe got a bit complacent. In the second half, we were a little unlucky not to go 2-1 up, but that's sometimes the way it goes. But fair play to Cono, they put on a good performance," Olympic defender David Hartas said.
"I think last week's game did take its toll. We had two injuries and a suspended player coming out of that game, so there was a bit of fatigue. But at the end of the day, that's no excuse. We still had the players out there to do the job and we couldn't get it done."
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content. Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play.