A FINAL league game that meant nothing for the River apart from pride had a massive implication for Busselton.

Busselton required a win by two goals and relied on Bunbury United losing their final match to clinch the South West premier title.

With several first team players missing Margaret River could only field a much depleted team, including Will Coogan making his debut in goals.

Only one minute of play a through ball by River’s Johnny Richards found Danny Kaleta on the left wing who crossed first time for Josiah Allington to ram home a precise header into the bottom right hand corner, 1-0.

Busselton pressed hard for an equaliser, but the River defence with Adrian Nathanieisz and Matthieu Allard playing his last game before returning to France held firm.

On the verge of half time River scored again when Radar Saber rose well under pressure from the Busselton defenders to convert a powerful header from a corner, 2-0.

The second half began and with only seconds on the clock the referee gave Busselton a direct free kick for a dubious handball, which the Busselton player struck firmly into top corner, 2-1.

The River were now completely on the back foot and trying to absorb the pressure, but Busselton then equalised after 15 minutes of the second half when their forward pounced on a loose ball drilling it into the roof of the net from only 5m out, 2-2.

River went closest next when Ned Allington drove the ball along the Busselton goal line from a tight angle.

Busselton were to score their third goal once again from a goal mouth scramble which deflected off a River defender before eluding our keeper, 2-3.

River then went on the attack in search of an equaliser, shots from Woody Hangartner, Radar and Johnny all went close.

But the closest of all was when the River broke the Busselton off side trap to leave a one on one with their keeper pulling off a great save from Danny.

The final minutes were safely negotiated by Busselton to give them a win.

The news from Bunbury was not good for Busselton, United had beaten local rivals Dynamos 7-1 to win them the championship.

Most teams would have lain down especially with the numbers River had available, but full credit to all the guys including old warriors that pulled on the boots for the Reserves in a 1-1 draw.

There have been many heartbreaks this season for River, especially at home losing by the odd goal, but we must remember that this was our first season back in the top flight and I know we have earned respect from all quarters for the type of game we have played all season, well done guys.