The Northern Inland Premier League champions are off to Coffs Harbour for the next stage of Australia’s premier knockout competition following a 3-1 win against South Armidale United at SportsUNE on Saturday.

But the Mushies needed to produce a moment of magic to seal the tie and got that from the mercurial Adam Watson in the 89^th minute.

Watson, moved into attack from his midfield role due to a calf complaint, conjured a lovely strike past despairing Souths keeper Mitch Bullen.

Dan Cannon put the stamp on a fruitful trip to the New England region for OVA when he added the Mushies third during stoppage time.

The final scoreline was not quite a fair reflection on South Armidale, who looked to have the momentum midway through the second-half.

Having trailed 1-0 for much of the game after the opening strike through OVA forward Luke Purcell, Souths equalised through an unexpected moment of magic from Steve Berdar at the 71 minute mark.

Berder trapped the ball millimetres from the sideline and launched a cross, come shot which found its way past despairing OVA custodian Troy Keyte and into the top-corner.

But if anything, the Mushies responded the better to the equaliser with the final scoreboard a telling example.

OVA was well-served by Watson, your quintessential showman, but an instrumental figure in the line-up.

Michael Cooke and winger Will Menz also impressed for the Mushies.

South Armidale was led superbly by central defender Alex Boulus, the inventive Cai Spiers and skipper Paul Wright.