Narrabri FC thumps Moree to move 14 points clear at the top of the table

Narrabri FC has moved 14 points clear at the top of the 2021 Namoi Soccer League ladder and can now wrap up the competition’s minor premiership as early as this weekend.

The ladder leaders travelled to Moree on Saturday for a top-of-the-table round nine clash against Moree Services FC and returned home with all three points following a dominant 6-1 win.

The visitors trailed 1-0 for 16 of the first 20 minutes after Moree skipper Adam Ha opened the scoring in the fourth minute.

However, Narrabri FC equalised in the 20th minute and took the lead in the 21st after Zac Stait and Cooper Brayshaw netted within 60 seconds of one another.

Tom Holland then bagged a first half double to give the defending champions a 4-1 lead, which became 5-1 in the 55th minute when Colby Williams struck first in the second stanza.

Stait then scored his second goal of the game with five minutes left to play as Narrabri FC won its eighth game in as many matches.

The Moree Services field continues to be a happy hunting ground for Narrabri FC which scored 13 goals in three games at the venue during the 2020 season and has already scored 12 in two games in 2021 which included a 6-0 round three victory.

The Narrabri side moved to 24 competition points on Saturday to finish the weekend 14 points clear of second-placed Moree, 15 clear of third-placed Wee Waa United and 20 clear of fourth-placed Elevens FC.

The Elevens were scheduled to host Wee Waa in round nine but that match, set to be played at Hogan Oval, was washed out and postponed.

Narrabri FC will now play two matches in three days later this week and can secure a first-place finish and the home grand final reward which comes with the minor premiership if it wins both games.

The ladder leaders will challenge local rivals Elevens FC under lights on Thursday night at Hogan Oval in a rescheduled round eight match after the fixture was washed out on Saturday, June 26.

They will then play against Wee Waa United FC in round 10 at Hogan Oval on Saturday night after the Elevens take on Moree in their fixture at the same venue.

Narrabri FC’s first grade coach Neil Brayshaw told The Courier he was thrilled with his team’s round nine performance and the way his players have adapted to a new formation (4-3-3) that they were playing just their second game with on Saturday.

“It’s a real credit to our guys the way they’ve taken on our new structure,” Brayshaw said.

“Everyone’s getting on board with it.

“It’s working well, when we lose possession teams aren’t going right through us in the midfield anymore, we have the numbers there.

“That was my number one aim with changing our formation.

“Another thing we are doing better is we used to panic when we went behind, but that is gone out of our game now. And we aren’t just scoring one to get back in the game we are scoring two or three.

“It was a good win and I’d call it our best performance since the Johnson Cup in the pre-season. The communication and some of our passing was the best I’ve seen all year.

“And the teamwork, well I haven’t seen teamwork like that since the Johnson Cup either.”

Brayshaw said that while Moree’s fourth-minute opener was a screamer from distance for Ha, there was a lesson to be learned for his men.

“It was a lackluster start and everyone knows it,” Brayshaw said.

“We talked about it, we know it comes down to preparation. Our warm-ups have not been the best.

“We have to warm up the way we want to play and we need everyone to be on the same page – all turn up on time and all be dressed and ready to go on time.

“We know we can get better as a team and it will be scary for other teams when we finally put a 90-minute performance together.

“But we really need to improve our starts to games to do that.”

While the coach commended his entire team for Saturday’s victory, he heaped extra praise on the starting side’s left and right fullbacks Jess O’Neil and Izaac Jeffries who he said have stood up and taken on extra responsibilities since the team changed its formation which has allowed the side to play at a higher level.

Meanwhile, Narrabri FC’s reserve grade team went down 2-1 in its top-of-the-table round nine clash against ladder leaders Moree on Saturday.

The visitors went into the half-time break trailing 1-0, then midway through the second stanza they equalised when Brenton Cochrane netted in his first game of the season. But Moree scored a late winner to claim all three points and move six points clear at the top of the ladder.