Image: Anita Milas
Brunswick City have announced their first two additions for the upcoming season by securing the services of goalkeeper Sebastian Mattei and attacking midfielder Cameron Neales.
25-year-old Mattei joins the Spartans having spent the last two years as goalkeeper coach at Green Gully as well as understudy to Rani Dowisha.
While the former Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart Youth team shot-stopper failed to make a single league appearance for the club, he was between the sticks deputising for the suspended Dowisha in the memorable 2-1 triumph over the Central Coast Mariners in the FFA Cup.
The then-19 year-old made his senior debut in 2010 for the Melbourne Knights, making a total of seven league appearances for the club before featuring for the Victorian Training Centre the following year.
A move to Heidelberg United in 2012 followed before a mid-season switch to the Western Suburbs, where he made 11 league appearances under Lenny Catalano, which also included a goal in 4-1 defeat at home to the Whittlesea Ranges where he featured as an outfield player.
He spent the inaugural year of the NPL in 2014 plying his trade with regional outfit FC Bendigo, before returning to Gully whom he represented in the juniors.
24-year-old Neales moves to Dunstan Reserve after a standout season with the Eastern Lions where the attacking midfielder scored 10 goals in 17 league games.
Having made his senior debut for Sandringham City in 2009, Neales spent the next seven seasons at the club whom he helped gain automatic promotions to State League Two in 2015.
He made a great start to life in NPL2, scoring on his home debut against Kingston before adding four goals in four games in April before injuries disrupted the second half of his campaign.
The duo join Matthew Augello, Michael Cunningham, Nathan Fox, Jason Principato, Hayden Kanjo, Andrew Le Page, Ali Turgut, Dimitri Vithoulkas and club Golden Boot winner Adam Wright as confirmed members of the 2017 playing squad under George Karkaletsis.
The Spartans will return to NPL2 West next year after spending 2016 in the East conference where they finished fifth on the standings with 43 points, one point behind third placed Dandenong City in a marked improvement for a club which accumulated 29 points in total from the previous two seasons.