Mandurah paralympic soccer trio help WA to national final

Patrick Amato, Raymond Ellery and Jordan De Stefano all played vital roles in buoying WA to a finals appearance against New South Wales.

The team flew out to Sydney on Wednesday, October 26 and immediately found their feet, defeating Victoria 3-1 in their first match before backing it up with a 4-1 win over Queensland.

After finishing a game against New South Wales with a 2-2 draw, WA needed a 2-0 win over a combined states side to move into the final.

They destroyed combined states 6-0 and eventually lost the finals to the home team New South Wales.

Amato, who captained the side, said the tournament was WA’s best showing in years.

“This was my third trip to nationals and in the first two we finished fourth and fifth, so to make it all the way to the final and finish second is huge,” he said.

“Going into the game against combined states we knew we needed to perform well to make it to the final so when the floodgates opened and we won six nil was just an amazing moment for the team.

“Even though we lost the final it was a really proud tournament for WA.”

The group, which consisted of a number of younger players, had been training for the tournament since January.

Amato highlighted the side’s growth over the 10-month period an indication of bigger things to come in the future.

“As a bloke who has played in a few tournaments to see all the young kids come through and play really well at nationals was pretty heartwarming,” he said.

“It puts us in good stead for competitions in the coming years knowing we've got so many good young guys.

“Next year we want to be the side to beat, we want to be the top dogs, and our group is pretty strong now.”

Team members will now take a short break from national duty before returning to their training in the coming months.