Tara Murray
Maidstone United walks away from the FV state league 5 west season with its best result.
Having slowly risen up the ranks, Maidstone was still fighting for promotion in the final round of the season on Saturday.
While results didn’t go its way in the final round, Maidstone still knows that its on the right track.
Speaking before the final round, president Michael Cursio said it had been a really good year for the club.
“It’s been our highest ever finish,” he said. “Our expectation this season was to try and get promoted.
“In each of our season’s we’ve gradually crept up the ladder.
“We were fourth last year and we’ll finish either second or third this year.”
Maidstone United entered the final round in third spot, goal difference behind second placed Deakin University.
Lara United had already locked in the title and the first promotion spot.
It meant Maidstone needed a better result than the Ducks in the final round to leapfrog them into second place.
Maidstone had a 2-2 draw with Bendigo City after it went down to 10 men due to a red card. It meant it needed the Ducks to lose.
It wasn’t the case with the Ducks having a 4-0 win against Wyndham to lock in second spot.
Cursio said promotion would again be the goal next season.
“We’ve had a few good seasons post the Covid era,” he said. “We set out to rise through the ranks.
“A couple of weeks ago we sat down with the coaches and players to keep their spirits high and said if we don’t get it this year, we will turn up next year even stronger.
“We said there would be no disappointment if results didn’t go our way, we now focus on next year.”
Elsewhere in the club, Cursio said there has massive growth occurring the past few years.
He said they are now up to 13 junior teams and were hoping to have 15 or 16 next season, having started with three teams.
The club has now had to start to trial players and turn people away as they’ve got so many numbers in some age groups.
He said the club needs to make sure there is a pathway between the juniors and seniors.
“We need to get to at least state league 3,” he said of the senior program. “We want to have that pathway and state league 3 is competitive.
“We want to grow our juniors and be a destination club in the inner west.”
