ARTHUR Phillip High School navigated its way through and around Tamworth’s Oxley High to win yesterday’s Errea Cup State CHS Knockout round of 16 match 3-nil on Johnson Field at Gipps Street in Tamworth .
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The Sydney school was too slick and too quick for the home side, turning a 1-nil half-time lead into a 3-nil win and earn a berth in the KO quarter-finals.
A first-half penalty from Ronny Kwarteng was followed by second-half strikes from Alusine Fofanah and acrobatic Robert Kusi in an impressive effort from the Michael Kanale-coached side.
Oxley High coach Wayne May was also impressed.
“They are one of the better Sydney sides we’ve played,” May said.
“They were quick on and off the ball and fully deserved the win but our boys kept going, kept plugging away.
“We had a few chances in the second half and if we could have scored one of those we might have been right back in it.”
However Arthur Phillip was always in control, hitting the Oxley post twice in the first five minutes.
Captain Salman Hassani was strong at the back and led his side well with some pinpoint passes from a side made up of young men from all over the globe.
“Our school is made up of 97 per cent non-English speaking students from different
backgrounds,” Kanale said.
“Many of these boys’ parents weren’t born in Australia – indeed, some of them were born overseas and came here as refugees.
“A lot of them would be on the streets but for playing football and coming up here has been special for them.
“We’re very happy to be up here.
“We spent the night out at Lake Keepit.
“We trained there yesterday but most of the boys wanted to stop and take photos of how pretty it was.
“And the stars last night were special.
“It’s a beautiful place.”
The side reciprocated by playing some beautiful football during yesterday’s round of 16 clash, puting together some slick one-touch passing that had the Oxley defenders grasping at thin air at stages.
“They are a good team,” May said.
“A good bunch of kids to play against too, a good clean team.”
He thought Travis Beard was his side’s best with a non-stop effort.
Aiden Flynn, Dylan May and Keanu Moore also worked hard while centre backs Josh Rogers and Cameron Skewes had a tough day trying to keep the Arthur Phillip strikers in check.
It wasn’t all bad news for young Oxley left back David Ifield yesterday.
He’s been selected in the Northern NSW Country Under 14 side to contest the FFA National Championships in October.
The Vic Stokes-coached side will head to Tallebudgera, Queensland for a four-day training camp from July 7.
Under 13 Country head coach Gavin Whitney will make his final squad selection from a train-on squad at the Tallebudgera camp that includes Narrabri’s Cooper Brayshaw and Armidale’s Tom Campbell.
o NNSW Country teams on page 23.
