HOPPERS Crossing got to party like it was 1999 on Saturday night.
The Reds clinched their first title in 13 long years with a 3-0 drubbing of West Preston at Grange Reserve.
Now they’ll go up a division as the champions of the provisional league 2 north-west.
Reds coach Joey Vella said that post-game celebrations were “pretty big” at Heaths Road.
“It’s nice to be able to do it at your own home ground,” he said.
“We had a lot of guys there who had won it the last time.”
This premiership has been a long time coming for Vella and the Reds.
In his five years at the helm, Vella has seen his win-loss record improve year on year.
The Reds desperately wanted to avoid a repeat of the near miss last season and left nothing to chance this campaign by cementing top spot with two weeks still to play.
“We’ve done everything a bit earlier than usual, which is nice,” Vella said.
“I’m more pleased for the boys than anything else because all their hard work has come to fruition.
“We can now relax a bit in the last two games.”
What is most impressive about the Reds is the manner in which they have achieved the feat.
To this point, they have had only one slip-up and a draw in 20 matches.
They have a goal difference of plus-39.
“All the players’ standards have been pretty high all year and they’re self-driven,” Vella said.
“When you’re so far in front of the rest of the teams, you can probably start thinking it’s OK to drop a game here and there, but they’ve kept their standards up all year.”
Those standard did not drop one iota as they clinically dismantled West Preston.
The Reds got the go-ahead goal in the 15th minute when a quickly taken free kick from Tom Orndahl landed in the possession of Brett Gilmore, who turned his defender in the 18-yard box and fired low past the keeper.
They had to wait until the second half to double their lead in a similar fashion with the ball played to the feet of Gilmore, who swivelled to take his shot, but was chopped down from behind and the referee pointed to the spot for specialist penalty taker Gus Dos Santos to make it 2-0.
The third goal fittingly came from prolific striker Alister Smart with 10 minutes to go.
All the Reds had to do was wait for a result from the Laverton Park and Epping City contest and the nil-all draw would suffice to spark the title celebrations.
Werribee City moved up to third on the state league 1 ladder with a 5-2 mauling of the Bulleen Lions at the Veneto Club on Monday night.
FFV
SL1: Bulleen Lions 2 Werribee City 5
PL2: Hoppers Crossing 3 West Preston 0
