Westside Panthers under-18s are the undisputed champions of Western Premier League soccer after taking out their second successive title with a 4-2 success over Canobolas Rangers from Orange.

With last year’s premiership success behind them, which also included a NSW Champions of Champions title, an emotional coach Paul Stimson addressed his side before the start of play.

He reminded his players that this would be the last grand final that they would all be together as most will progress into the senior ranks, with a few others heading off to university next year.

The Panthers started the game into a stiff breeze and knew that a strong first half would lay the platform for a win.

After the nerves finally settled it was striker Anthony Wahbi who struck the first blow, with a magnificent shot from just outside the 18-yard box.

In a seesawing battle, Canobolas was able to equalise with about 15 minutes remaining in the half. Their excitement was cut short, however, when brilliant midfielder Marty Raines took full advantage of a clever James Stimson flick to go to the break 2-1.

In the second stanza Panthers started to dominate early aided by the strong breeze and it wasn’t long before the score had blown out to 4-1 with quick goals to Anthony Wahbi and a magic solo effort by Matt Duffy.

It was at this stage in the match that that coach Stimson replaced Raines, Wahbi and Justin Sutton to save their legs for the first grade encounter later in the day.

Panthers remained dominate but to Canobolas’ credit they never gave up and were rewarded with a second goal 20 minutes from full-time.

This increased their intensity and the game became very physical, but this played right into the hands of Jarrod Rootes as the tougher it got the more he liked it. Jarrod played a fantastic defensive role along side team mates Matt Walker, Brandon Tibbins and Cameron Bestwick who together continually denied the opposition.

The game ended at 4-2 and kept the crowd entertained until the end. The game ball for player of the match was awarded to Matt Walker who along with Justin Sutton seemed to be everywhere.