Belconnen United coach Dean Ugrinic believes he has found the heir apparent to Capital Football's greatest goal keeper Ange Konstantinou in teenage star Finn Jurak.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Jurak was "oustanding" in helping Belconnen book their ticket to the grand final in a thrilling penalty shootout, dealing Canberra Olympic's Capital Football treble hopes a cruel blow.
Two Jurak saves put Belconnen into the Capital Football National Premier League decider with a 2-2 (4-2 penalties) win over Olympic at Deakin Stadium on Saturday.
Olympic look assured of a grand final spot before Belconnen's Jason Ugrinic nailed a penalty inside the final three minutes to send the game into extra time.
Then 17-year-old Jurak stepped up in the shootout to deny Konstantinou and Stephen Domenici's attempts while his side were unstoppable from the spot.
"I've got a lot of confidence in Finn," Ugrinic said.
"He's the heir apparent to Ange Konstantinou as far as I'm concerned. He's got good feet, he's great with his hands, he's got a lovely personality.
"In his first year of Premier League football he's in a grand final and he's the one that more or less got us there. I can't take away the effort of the whole squad."
It means Olympic will be making a trip to Woden Park on Sunday for Gungahlin United's elimination final with Canberra FC to scout their opposition for next week's preliminary final.
Olympic could be second guessing their decision to play against A-League club the Newcastle Jets in a friendly at Deakin Stadium on Tuesday night.
They've won two grand finals in a row and are eyeing the first three-peat since Canberra FC's achieved the feat from 2009-11.
But things just got a whole lot more difficult for the league premiers and Ugrinic couldn't be happier.
"I'm ecstatic, I'm just over the moon," Ugrinic said.
"A lot of people didn't give us a hope of making finals let alone making a grand final. For me personally, it's been a work in progress for the last three years.
"After all our problems at the club it's just nice now three years later that we've got a side to the final game."
Belconnen's Jason Ugrinic drew first blood in the battle of the competition's leading goal scorers, scoring in the 37th minute to steal bragging rights from Olympic sharpshooter Domenici.
Olympic fired back six minutes later when Robbie Cattanach found the back of net from outside the box, and went 2-1 up when Josh Gulevski delivered with 13 minutes left.
Domenici almost put the result beyond doubt when he skipped past the goalkeeper but couldn't control the final touch.
It was a touch he was left to rue after Ugrinic rifled home a free kick to lock up the scores inside the dying minutes, and Belconnen stole victory in the shootout.
But Belconnen's Leo Mazis could miss the grand final after being red carded in the final stages of extra time.
All eyes are now on self-proclaimed "underdogs" Gungahlin as they look to stun the league against Canberra in the minor semi-final.
AT A GLANCE
Capital Football: BELCONNEN UNITED 2 (4 penalties) (Jason Ugrinic 37' 88') bt CANBERRA OLYMPIC 2 (2 penalties) (Robbie Cattanach 43', Josh Gulevski 77') at Deakin Stadium.
Minor semi-final: Gungahlin United v Canberra FC at Woden Enclosed Oval, Sunday 4pm.
