Goals: 1:0 David Reid (15.); 2:0 Jacob Borg (42.); 2:1 Darren Stone (45.); 3:1 Sam Munro (54.); 4:1 Alvin Ceccoli (64.); 4:2 Tim O'Brien (65.)

Dandy's brilliance comes to the four in grand final win BY SAM HALL

Dandaloo have maintained their grip on the Illawarra Premier League with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Tarrawanna on Saturday - wrapping up their third consecutive title.

The win completed an unprecedented sweep of all four trophies on offer in the 2011 season.

The Lions cleverly defused the Blueys’ attacking options in a frenetically paced affair.

Largely, it was Ricky Zucco who suffered from the Lions’ efforts to neutralise Tarra. Dandaloo isolated the fiery No10, shutting down his time with the ball for the majority of play.

Dandaloo’s clever defensive tactics complemented their own attacking raids, culminating in captain Alvin Ceccoli’s 63rd-minute strike that sealed the game.

Dandy coach Norm Boardman’s influence became more and more evident throughout, as the Lions deftly squeezed their opponents out of contention.

‘‘I thought we controlled the game fairly well. We knew that they’d keep coming at us because that’s their style,’’ Boardman said afterwards.

‘‘Ricky Zucco, Darren Stone and Kyle Wolsky can only use their quality if they get serviced, and that’s what we tried to do - block off the service to them - and it worked quite well.’’

Tarra pressured the men in orange early with two meaningful attacking pushes inside the first five minutes.

Zucco and Stone both prospered in possession, but they were soon to be shut down as Boardman’s men neutralised Tarra’s aggression.

David Reid struck a pearler from 30m out to open Dandy’s account in the 15th minute; the ball arrowed into the net, much to the surprise of Blueys keeper Christian Pretto.

Tarra’s custodian was the only thing stopping the Lions from piling on more goals, the No1 producing a man-of-the-match performance in Boardman’s view.

However, even Pretto couldn’t stop Jacob Borg’s 39th-minute header that doubled Dandy’s lead.

Despite Zucco seeing little ball late in the half, the Blueys managed to hit back in the 45th minute, thanks to some Darren Stone magic.

However, it was more of the same in the second stanza.

Scott Chipperfield Medal winner Sam Munro extended Dandaloo’s advantage in the 54th minute before Ceccoli’s match-sealer. Tim

O’Brien’s 65th-minute strike gave the Blueys some consolation.

Ceccoli said staying composed had laid the foundations for the win.

‘‘We just mark and do our jobs really, it’s just what we know and what we do,’’ the former Socceroo said.

‘‘It all comes down to your preseason preparation. Norm gave us a good preseason and you can see the difference of where we’re at this year.

‘‘There was no-one that stood out for the whole 90 minutes. Everyone would just chime in at the right time to make it a really good team performance.’’

Report courtesy of Illawarra Mercury