The battle between Norths United and Demon Knights lived up to the pre-game hype of being the match to watch in round 13 of the McDonald’s Northern Inland Premier League season.
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In a game that left onlookers scratching their heads over questionable on-field decisions, the competitive nature between the two teams enthralled and entertained.
The intense rivalry between the highest-placed Armidale sides was on display from the opening whistle.
Norths came back from a 1-nil deficit to lead 2-1 at half-time.
Eyebrows were raised as shortly before the break though, as a DK player was marched courtesy of a straight red card.
With 10 men tasked with reclaiming the lead, DK came out strong in the second term but the Redmen managed to add another goal to their tally and claim the match 3-1.
Norths United’s co-coach Scott Freeman said it was good to hit back against a DK side, who had dominated their most recent encounters.
“As I predicted last week, it was going to be a physical, brutal game and it was,” he said.
“We were down 1-nil and to our credit our boys fought back really well and started to play proper football, moving the ball around and working for each other.
“I said if our midfield worked properly we would win and players like Jase Boundy give 100 per cent every week.”
Freeman said Anthony Green had his best game for the Redmen with three assists but couldn’t fault the performance from all his side’s players.
“It was a massive team effort out there because DK came at us hard and fast in that first half and then they really fired up and came back at us in the second half too,” he said.
“We scored the only goal in the second half but we could have scored a couple, they definitely could have scored a couple but good keeping efforts by both goalkeepers kept it to 1-nil in the second half.
“There was some bloody good football out there.
“We were very pleased with how our boys played.”