Backing up from the State U15s Boys’ Championships in Tamworth on the weekend, the Tamworth pair will represent North West at the State CHS Championships.

On the weekend, they were part of the Tamworth A side that finished a credible sixth, especially being such a young side, in Division 1.

“We only had five U15 boys,” coach Brad Hall said.

They weren’t far off the mark, their one-goal loss to North West Sydney in their second game on the first day the difference between them making the semis and not.

“We really had chances there to win that and it was disappointing we couldn’t at least hang on for a draw,” Hall said.

“I had a slight glimmer of hope yesterday (Saturday). Far North Coast were beating North West Sydney but they got over them 3-2.”

Had Far North Coast held on, it would have left Tamworth and North West Sydney on the same wins and would have come down to goal difference.

Tamworth had kept their hopes alive with a 4-1 win over Illawarra on Saturday morning.

“We were a bit outclassed in the later game (Metro South West) and outsized,” Hall  said.

He couldn’t question their effort though and thought it was probably their best game of the tournament.

“Compared to where we came from at the start of the weekend to there was a massive improvement,” he said.

They just made too many turnovers in the midfield.

“We spoke about that,” Hall said.

“We knew the Sydney team was strong in the centre.”

“Our plan was to outlet wide.

“Unfortunately we didn’t execute that.”

He put that down to having less time to operate in.

“That was the only issue.

“Once we got out of defence and into our attacking third we put some good attack together,” he said.

The game slipped away from them in a 10-minute period in the first half, with Metro South West scoring three goals.

It put them third in their pool and into a play-off against Grafton, where they went down 7-3.

“There were a lot of tired boys,” Hall said.

That said, they were outplayed.

“Grafton was very strong through the midfield and took their chances,” he said.

They were also physically bigger. That hurt them, Hall said.

Still, he was happy with the weekend and saw some signs of promise.

Mac Carr showed a lot of potential in goals.

“He moved really well as a keeper,” Hall said.

Noah Pitt was the players’ player.

“He, by his standards, had a bit of a slow start but he really stood up in game three, four and five,” he said.

“He really ran the ball forward with good control on the ball and good elimination.”

It was close between him and Whitten for their best in his mind.

“Toby was outstanding,” he said.

“He ran his heart out. He was everywhere.”

The Bs placed fourth in Division 3 with two wins – one of which was against eventual champions Port Macquarie – two draws and two losses.

After two wins and a draw on the first day they went into Saturday needing to win both their games to make the final.

“The first game against Bathurst, Bathurst just got the momentum in the first 15 minutes and they didn’t relax through the whole game, which didn’t allow us to get any momentum,” coach Blair Chalmers said.

“They were a bigger, faster, stronger side.”

They then went down to Newcastle (2) 2-1 but played “much better”.

That meant they had to face Newcastle again, but on the grass.

“We scored first but Newcastle scored with two minutes to go,” he said.

He said they did well for the young side  they were and learnt a lot.