Wee Waa United FC sets up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash with a big win at home

Wee Waa United FC was at its brilliant best at Cook Oval on Saturday when it scored a round five Namoi Premier League first grade win against Moree Services FC.

The hosts led 3-0 at the half-time and then scored three more goals in the second stanza to win the match 6-0.

Strike partners David Avery and Ray Nixon found the back of the net in the first half within two minutes of one another, and then an own goal tripled the home side’s lead.

Wee Waa United FC’s captain-coach Ben Cooper was back in the lineup after he was away for the side’s 3-all draw at home against Inverell FC in round four and he made the score 4-0 after the break. Avery and Nixon then scored their second goals of the game as their side won by six.

That result set up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table round six game this Saturday when Wee Waa play a third consecutive home match as it hosts the ladder-leading Narrabri FC.

Narrabri FC is on 12 competition points after it won its fourth game of the year on Saturday. It downed Inverell FC 7-0 in Inverell to remain two points clear of a Wee Waa side that is ranked second on 10 points following three wins, a draw and a loss.

Wee Waa is yet to lose a game that it has played, with its only loss coming back in round one via forfeit. It is the only team to have beaten Narrabri FC so far this season when it downed them 3-2 at Hogan Oval under lights in round three on Thursday, May 4.

Wee Waa United FC had a fresh new look in round five on Saturday as it played its first games in its new strip.

The club’s first grade side signalled its intent early in the round six contest when it mounted an attack and won a corner 20 seconds after kicking off.

Nothing came from that set piece, and despite Wee Waa dominating the early stages of the contest, the score was still nil-all at the 20-minute mark.

The home side opened the scoring in the 23rd minute mark when Nixon intercepted a Moree Services FC pass in the visiting side’s defensive third, and he immediately played a ball in behind to strike partner who volleyed a one-on-one strike past the Moree goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

The attacking duo swapped roles two-and-a-half minutes later when Wee Waa doubled its advantage as Avery set up Nixon for his first goal of the season. A brilliant Alex Lucero sliding tackle just inside his attacking half, metres from the right sideline, won possession for the hosts. Lucero found Avery with a brilliant forward pass, and then Avery then spotted Nixon unmarked in the centre of the field and squared a pass to him. After assisting the first goal, Nixon ran past a Moree defender and drove a one-on-one shot low and hard into the bottom left corner to make the score 2-0.

An own goal made the score 3-0 in the 32nd minute when captain-coach Cooper won a corner down the left edge and then sent a curling cross off the goalkeeper’s shoulder and into the back of the net.

Wee Waa United FC went into the half-time break with that 3-0 lead, and the hosts were dealt a blow six minutes into the second stanza when goalkeeper Steve Phelps left the field following a head knock in a contest for a loose ball. He was replaced in goals by Nathan Hamblin and the duo combined to keep the clean sheet.

The hosts extended their lead as the score became 4-0 in the 59th minute. Cooper scored that goal after Avery had received a lobbed pass just inside his attacking half, which he controlled with his chest before volleying a pass into the path of his skipper. Cooper outmuscled a defender on his way to goal and then found the bottom left corner with a strike from just inside the area.

Moree almost replied instantly as a lobbed shot from the kick-off caught Hamblin off his line, however, the ball cannoned back out off the crossbar.

Less than a minute later, the ball was in the back of the opposite net as Wee Waa made the score 5-0.

Avery netted that goal from inside the six-yard box after Matt Hamblin showed some blistering pace down the right edge to get on the end of a Cooper through ball before finding Avery with a brilliant low cross.

Nixon scored his second goal of the game seven minutes later to make the score 6-0. That goal was fired into an empty net after Moree’s goalkeeper fumbled a Cooper cross after he and Hamblin bamboozled the away side’s defence with a string of passes between themselves down the left edge following a short corner kick.

That was the final goal of the game as the hosts secured the three points with a dominant six-goal clean sheet victory.

Wee Waa United’s reserve grade side went down 2-0 against Moree in the first game of the day at Cook Oval on Saturday. Moree’s Adam Ha and Kye Abraham were the goal-scorers in that game.