Narrabri FC wins an 11-goal first grade trial match thriller in Gunnedah

One of Namoi Soccer League’s newest rivalries is already showing promising signs despite the fact that the 2022 campaign is not even underway yet.

Defending champions and the 2021 undefeated minor premiers Narrabri FC took on competition newcomers Gunnedah FC for the second time in a week on Sunday and the two teams produced a high-scoring contest at Gunnedah’s Geoff Morgan Playing Fields.

Narrabri FC’s first grade side won the match 7-4 after it prevailed 7-2 at Gately Field a week earlier.

The visitors raced out to an early 1-0 lead in the second of those two trial games on Sunday when Blake Jarrett scored into an empty net from close range after Gunnedah FC’s goalkeeper spilled a Jake Brayshaw shot into the striker’s path.

Brayshaw, who scored a hat-trick in the two sides’ first trial game on home soil a week earlier, then found the back of the net three more times to give the visitors a 4-0 lead inside the first 20 minutes.

Gunnedah FC hit back with a goal late in the first 30-minute third as the score became 4-1 at the first break.

The hosts then scored the only goal of the second period of play as they continued to fight back and went into the second break on the hour-mark trailing 4-2.

Gunnedah FC then came out firing in the final third and two Andy Cygan goals made the score 4-all.

The home side’s coach scored his first from close range after he ran onto a cross from the right edge and fired the ball just under the crossbar.

He then equalised from the penalty spot after Rhys Hayne, who was filling in at goalkeeper after Narrabri FC’s keeper Zaac Brayshaw was injured earlier in the match, conceded a foul in his 18-yard box and was then sent the wrong way.

The hosts had all the momentum in that final third and looked set to score a remarkable come-from-behind win.

However, a fit and firing Narrabri FC outfit had other ideas.

For the second time in two matches, the men in blue outlasted Gunnedah FC as the work they put in during the in the pre-season paid off.

Jake Brayshaw scored his fourth goal of the game and his seventh in two outings midway through the final third to put the visitors back in the lead, before his brother and the side’s co-captain Cooper Brayshaw iced the match with two late goals. He scored the first of those from the penalty spot and then the second from just inside the 18-yard box after running onto a through ball.

Narrabri FC now turns its attention to the 2022 Johnson Cup pre-season tournament, which 11 teams from the Northern Inland region will contest in Tamworth on Saturday.

The Narrabri side has been placed into Pool A alongside the defending champions Oxley Vale Attunga, which beat Narrabri FC in the tournament’s final in 2021, as well as Moore Creek FC and North Companions.