Namoi Premier League’s 2023 season finals series gets underway

For the second year in a row, Narrabri FC and Wee Waa United FC will meet one another in the Namoi Premier League’s first grade preliminary final with Inverell FC awaiting the winner in the grand final.

The competition’s three-week finals series got underway on Saturday with the semi-finals, which saw Narrabri FC downed 1-0 at Hogan Oval by the defending champions Inverell in the major semi-final and Wee Waa score a 2-0 home ground win in the minor semi-final clash at Cook Oval against Moree Services FC.

Those results meant that Inverell will host grand final day on Saturday, September 9, and that this Saturday’s preliminary final between Narrabri and Wee Waa will be played at Hogan Oval.

In the minor semi-final, Moree only had eight fresh players at Cook Oval and the remainder of their team had to travel from Narrabri after lining up in the reserve grade major semi-final earlier in the day.

The visitors still managed to put up a resilient fight, but Wee Waa were too strong on the day. The hosts went into half-time leading after Jacob Hopman opened the scoring not long after the half-hour mark, and then Ray Nixon sealed the result when he scored the only goal of the second half soon after play had restarted.

Wee Waa showed their attacking intent early as they created their first chance after 15 seconds when Nixon played the ball in behind the defence down the right edge to Matt Hamblin, who then cut the ball back to Nixon, but the striker’s attempt from a tight angle sailed wide.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after captain-coach Ben Cooper intercepted a Moree throw-in deep in the visiting side’s half and then spotted Hopman unmarked at the back stick. He picked him out with the perfect pass, and Hopman fired his shot into the bottom left corner.

Wee Waa scored their second goal six minutes into the second half when Nixon ran onto a David Avery through ball and scored a one-on-one strike from a tight angle to make the score 2-0.

That was the way it stayed despite Moree’s attempts to fight their way back into the game.

Cooper thought he and his men did not produce their best performance in that match, but said he was pleased that they were able to get the job done.

“It wasn’t our best game at all,” he said.

“We didn’t play great on the day, but I guess the most important thing was we kept a clean sheet and we scored two goals, especially when we needed them after we got a few injuries early.

“A few boys had to go off in the first half and heads started dropping and we started having to change where players were playing.

“The first goal came at really such an important time and it changed the game in our favour, I would say.”

Ollie and Zac Stait and Alex Lucero all went off injured on Saturday, but both Zac and Alex are expected to be back this weekend for the preliminary final, as is returning defender Ibrahim Sultani who was away for the minor semi-final.

Cooper was hopeful that Ollie Stait would be right to play, which would see Wee Waa United have a full team to compete for a spot in the decider.

Cooper said that he was expecting a tight and competitive tussle against Narrabri FC.

“I expect, like all season against them, it will be a close game,” Cooper said.

“I think that whoever takes their chances will win the game. We both create chances, but I feel like all year we either have a good day of scoring or a bad day of scoring, and I think that applies to both teams.

“I would expect a fiery game. Both teams will be really up for it.

“I want our boys to just be up for the challenge. Even if we’re not playing the best football on the day, to still show spirit and be a unit as one and keep our formation solid.”

In the major semi-final at Hogan Oval on Saturday, Inverell FC opened scored in the sixth minute to start the match on the front foot.

They not only took that one-goal lead into the break, but they also went in with an extra man advantage after Narrabri FC’s keeper Zaac Brayshaw was sent off late in the opening half after an altercation with an opponent in his 18-yard box.

Playing with 10 men did not stop the hosts from pushing high in an attempt to find an equaliser, but they could not put any of their chances away as Inverell held on to win 1-0.

Narrabri FC’s coach Neil Brayshaw said that while he was disappointed with the result, he was proud of the way his side played, especially when they were down to 10 men.

However, he thought they had their chances to win the match but were not clinical enough in front of goal.

Narrabri FC have now turned their attention to the preliminary final on home soil against Wee Waa.

The Narrabri club’s reserve grade team continued their undefeated run in 2023 to book a spot in the decider when they downed Moree Services FC 2-0 at Hogan Oval in the major semi-final on Saturday.

Victor Matuku scored either side of half-time and his side kept a 14th clean sheet in 16 matches to get the job done.

In the reserve grade minor semi-final, Narrabri Eleven FC ended Wee Waa United’s season as the Narrabri side prevailed 3-0.

The Elevens opened the scoring on the 15-minute mark when Jonty Schwager tackled a Wee Waa United defender and charged down the right edge almost all the way to the goal line before finding the bottom left corner with a strike from a tight angle.

The away side took that 1-0 lead into half-time and then came out firing in the second stanza when Ciaran McCann charged onto a long Guy Gleeson throw in the 18-yard box and drove home a powerful volley to score his first goal for the club.

There was a 10-minute break during the half after Wee Waa’s Mark Rottger suffered a broken ankle, and then the Elevens scored five minutes after play restarted when Tashanny Clark picked out Schwager in the box with a classy cross from the left sideline, and his deflected shot fell to Gleeson who volleyed the follow-up strike into the back of the net.

That was the final goal of the game as full-time was blown 90 seconds later.

The Elevens will now meet Moree at Hogan Oval in Saturday’s preliminary final for a chance to take on Narrabri FC in the decider.