The long and at times painful 11-year wait is over for Altona in the Hockey Victoria premier league.
The A’s are headed to the top-flight finals for the first time since 2003.
They clinched fourth spot in a thrilling 4-4 draw with fifth-placed Doncaster on the road on Saturday, a game which saw them trail by two goals on three separate occasions, leading to a comeback each time in a never-say-die performance.
Matthew Guest was part of the last A’s top side to reach the finals and told Star Weekly that it has not been the path of least resistance back to the September action.
“It’s a long time between drinks,” he said.
“We’ve endured quite a lot over the last 10 to 12 years, we’ve fought relegation, we’ve got to the last game where we’ve had to win and just missed out on finals, we’ve been close a few times.
“The guys have hurt a lot over the last 10 years, so it’s pretty special day for us and the club.
“It means a lot, not just for our group, but for the people who have been associated with and supported the club for the last 10 years.”
The A’s had a clear understanding of what it would take to reach the finals.
A win or a draw and they were in, a loss would see them cough up fourth to their opposition.
The game reached the heights expected of two sides in a do-or-die showdown.
“It was nail-biting stuff,” Guest said.
“It was tense for us and very tense for those watching.
“Great teams are able to fight and dig themselves out of holes and we did that.”
The A’s could not have opted for a more dramatic way to claim the all-important point.
They went into half time a goal in arrears after 35 minutes of below par hockey for their lofty standards.
They were defensively lax and let in some soft goals to trail 3-2 at the break.
Andrew Scanlon’s double from the penalty corner kept the A’s in the contest.
“The message from the coach [Ben Guy] was to re-focus and if we win that second half we’ll play finals hockey,” Guest said.
The second half started the way of the first with the A’s on the back foot.
The one-goal deficit turned into two and hopes were fading fast for the visitors.
Seven minutes from full time, the A’s were resuscitated by a goal to Patrick Phillips from open play.
Four minutes later, the A’s had stunningly levelled the scores from the penalty corner through Chris Coleman.
Sensing the umpires’ whistles to end the game, Doncaster pulled their goalkeeper and produced waves of attack, only to be thwarted by A’s defensive duo Jake Macvean and Mathew Higgins.
“We were a little bit frantic, throwing it away a little bit and trying to defend with everything we had,” Guest said.
“They made a couple of crucial settling tackles.”
The A’s held on for a draw, which must have felt more like a victory.
Guest is adamant his side has the quality and the form to make their presence felt in the finals.
“We’re going into the finals confident that we can not just make up the numbers,” he said.
“We’re obviously going to come up against some fantastic opposition but only one of the teams in the top four has beaten us this year.
“We take a lot of confidence out of that, we’re capable of challenging for the flag.”
