North Companions twice pegged back a one goal deficit to defeat Tamworth FC in 3-2 in their Northern Inland Premier League clash at Marius St on Saturday.
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Ben van Aanholt slotted the winner from the penalty spot with around three minutes remaining after FC had made the early running in both halves.
Troy Hearfield scored both FC’s goals, Nick Bowden levelling in the first half for Companions before Brodie King did likewise in the second after a good through ball from Jake Thompson following some good lead-up work in the midfield.
“It was a very hard fought win,” Companions coach Gavin Thompson said.
“Probably the first 15 minutes they were on top but the rest of the first half we dominated but we could only manage to put one away.”
“They then came out really strongly in second half and were on top for a good 20-25 minutes before we got ourselves back in the game.”
Thompson couldn’t quite put his finger on why they started so slowly in both halves, but paid credit to FC.
“They are a good side and they played well,” he said.
Both sides changed formations for the game, which saw Bowden move back into the midfield. That was where they probably got on top of FC, Thompson felt, with Bowden and Amine Amine Lihia, playing defensive midfield, their best.
“Certainly we’ve got things to work on. Both of their goals were goal mouth scrambles where we failed to clear the ball,” Thompson said.
Next up they’ve got East Armidale, who had a 3-all draw with Oxley Vale Attunga.
It was a big turnaround from a 3-nil loss in the opening round, and came after they trailed 2-nil.
“Luke Purcell had us up by two and I think they went this is easy,” Mushies coach Tim Coates said.
He knew it wasn’t going to be having watched Easts play Norths United last weekend.
“It took Norths a long time to get around them,” he said.
“They’re a committed unit. They play the ball wide and make you chase them.”
He said they used their width well with Corby Kliendienst on one side and Patrick Cheboi on the other.
After fighting back to 2-all at half-time, Easts then hit the front five minutes into the second half.
Ben Gennardini levelled for the Mushies midway through the half, the home side around that time also losing skipper Trent Irwin to a deliberate hand ball. But they hung on well.
“The last 13 or 14 minutes we had probably 80 per cent of the play and couldn’t score,” Coates said.
In the other games South Armidale turned the tables on Demon Knights 3-2 and Norths United got the better of Joeys FC 2-nil.
