Photo: Sonia Licciardi
With the sound of the full-time whistle at George Andrews Reserve on Saturday night came the unbridled joy of victors Box Hill United, who became the first side to trump Dandenong Thunder in the league.
Hands went up and passionate celebrations were shared, all in a game that had very few real ratifications for the fourth-placed side who are no longer a realistic chance of claiming promotion this season.
A central figure in that win was goalkeeper Keegan Coulter, who made a number of key saves across the 90 minutes, however the 21-year-old was quick to praise his teammates for the 2-1 win, which saw them “put their body on the line” for the cause.
“Dandy Thunder have obviously been the standout club all season, and a massive congratulations to the boys,” Coulter said.
“I’ll say in particular, Chris Heckenberg who was phenomenal. He’s 17 or 18 and he put his body on the line. To see that is inspirational.”
“I was sitting watching the boys, and we had some young lads out there today, to see what they did today and putting their body on the line, it was phenomenal.
“I’ll be honest with you, we’ve had a bad six weeks but we got the win against Eastern Lions last week and got the win again today. It’s a great feeling, you can’t describe it.”
The win placed a massive ‘what if?’ over their season, a club that picked up a win over Dandenong City, nearly beat St Albans Saints and was competitive in two one-goal losses to Kingston City.
The aforementioned six-week period saw them take just two points from a possible 18, spanning all the way from late May to early July, the club then sitting a respectable two-games off a promotion spot.
Coulter struggled to find a suitable reason for why the club faded in that capacity, given the level of determination and performance that was on display away to the Thunder, but admitted that he and his teammates had worked hard to turn things around over the last fortnight.
“We had a few players leave half way through the season, I’m not sure why but we just lost it a bit for six-seven weeks,” he said.
“Player turn around, it always happens no matter what club you play for. But it’s always good to stick with the same bunch of lads, the same starting XI week in, week out.
“We don’t put the six weeks down to players leaving at all, we put it down to ourselves not working hard enough. But we’ve done that the past few weeks and the results are coming.
“I couldn’t tell you what changed but we’re just working every week, there’s belief and desire. You can’t ask for much more from the boys.”
Coulter admits the aim from within the club was to get promoted this season, and that their poor mid-season form “put a dent” in that ambition.
Looking ahead at the remaining seven fixtures and Box Hill are still able to impact the promotion race, with crunch games against West conference opposition Melbourne City and North Geelong Warriors, as well as third-placed NPL2 East opposition Dandenong City in the final round.
They’ll be hoping to retain the same level of motivation for those three important fixtures lying ahead in the next two months; Coulter admitting the side won’t lack motivation despite the lack of proper incentive for the club to win games.
“You keep yourself motivated for pride, for the badge, you want to finish as high as you can, regardless of whether you have a chance of promotion or not.
“You put that stuff out of your head and before you get on the pitch every game you say ‘I want to win today’. That’s me and the boys and how we stay motivated.”