'To play with my little brother': Family bond drives Tigers' back-to-back premiership...

The only disappointment for Aidan Milicevic was his brother Joshua was injured for the grand final. Everything else? Pretty amazing.

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Premiership, stunning free kick two minutes in, set up two more in a best-on-ground performance, Golden Boot winner for the NPL.

Tigers FC players celebrate with their fans after winning the NPL grand final. Picture Anthony Caffery Photography

Not a bad night's work as part of Tigers FC's 3-0 win over Canberra Croatia to make it back-to-back NPL premierships.

Milicevic only returned to Canberra this year, having headed to Sydney as a 16-year-old to follow his soccer dream.

It led to a stint with the Central Coast Mariners Academy before he ended up with Sydney United 58 - who coincidentally won the NSW NPL crown on Sunday as well.

But the lure to play with his brother Josh was one too strong to resist.

"I wanted to come back home," Milicevic said.

"I don't know, just a personal decision and my little brother plays for for the team.

"He wasn't able to play tonight because he's injured, unfortunately.

"But that was a deciding factor - obviously wanted to play with my little brother.

Post-match celebrations for Tigers FC. Picture Anthony Caffery Photography

"So can't complain. Good year and I'm happy it ended like this."

Milicevic's goal came from a free kick on the edge of Croatia's box after just two minutes.

Tigers had a penalty shout when Spencer Barber appeared to be brought down four minutes later, but it was waved away by the referee.

Augustine Bangura came off the bench in the second half to double Tigers' lead.

Milicevic had his shot saved by Croatia keeper Jampel Dorji, before he found Bangura.

He completed the win when he got in behind and squared the ball for striker David Owusu to finish.

Croatia had two players sent off in the dying minutes, with Lasse Olrik talking himself into a second yellow card in the 88th minute.

Then substitute Lemar Katawazai lost control of the ball and dived in with a two-footed tackle on Bangura in an attempt to get it back only to get a straight red instead.

Milicevic revealed he'd done a bit of homework on Dorji, which played a role in his early goal.

"It's probably the best thing you could ask for, I guess, especially in a grand final, in a one-off game, to start with the lead," he said.

"But I've looked at a couple of videos from their previous games with their goalkeeper on free kicks, set pieces, and I noticed he tries to guess a lot before I even shoot.

"So I thought I'd try and reverse it, and try and catch him off [guard]."

And plans for the night for Tigers boys?

"Yeah, I'm not working tomorrow," Milicevic said with a laugh.

TIGERS FC 3 (Aidan Milicevic 2, Augustine Bangura 78, David Owusu 82) bt CANBERRA CROATIA 0

It took 120 minutes and two wonder goals to decide it. For almost 100 of those minutes the NPLW grand final was stuck in a nil-all deadlock.

That was until Izzy Hindmarsh struck a 30-metre thunderbolt to give Belconnen United the lead.

Belconnen United celebrate the NPLW title. Picture Anthony Caffery Photography

Somehow substitute Hattie Cram managed to better Hindmarsh's wonder goal, with a 50m speculator that caught Canberra Croatia goalkeeper Ellie Summers off her line.

It came just seconds after Croatia almost levelled the scores from a corner, only for Belconnen to catch them on the break to seal back-to-back NPLW premierships with a 2-0 victory at McKellar Park on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, Hindmarsh was named player of the match.

Hindmarsh was blown away when she saw her shot go in.

"It was one of the most sensational moments of the season," she said.

"When I saw it went in I was ecstatic.

"I couldn't be happier especially because of all the chances we had and all the hard work the girls did."

Belconnen celebrate their win. Picture by Anthony Caffery Photography

Croatia dominated the opening 15 minutes and had a few half- chances from corners and free kicks.

But Belconnen worked its way back into the game and should've gone into half-time in the lead.

Croatia keeper Ellie Summers made a great save from Alina Roberts, before producing another from a close-range Leila Billington effort.

Belconnen striker Alyssa Di-Campli should've scored from a Lillian Skelly cross, but put her effort wide to keep it all square at the break.

The second half was also tight, with extra-time needed to find a winner.

Meanwhile, Canberra United have announced the re-signing of defender Hayley Taylor-Young for the coming A-League Women season.

Taylor-Young has scored two goals in 44 ALW games for United.

The announcement on Sunday morning follows the signing of former Adelaide United midfielder Emily Condon, who has played 148 ALW games.

BELCONNEN UNITED 2 (Izzy Hindmarsh 98, Hattie Cram 106) bt CANBERRA CROATIA 0

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