Workies and Kiwis' final round Tamworth men's first grade encounter turned into a preliminary final preview after Kiwis wrangled the points to open the door for South United to usurp Workies as minor premiers.
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Level on points heading into the game, Kiwis 2-1 win meant Souths only had to draw to secure top spot and automatic grand final qualification.
They ended up getting the maximum points, defeating Tudor Wests 2-1.
"Kiwis did all the hard work for us," Souths captain-coach Sam Clifton commented.
"Our game was still pretty tough and tight and Tudors did their best to have an upset win."
"[But] We did enough to get the win."
They were up 2-nil at one stage and created "plenty of chances".
"Our short corners were pretty off," he said.
"We only had one we scored off. The rest didn't come out straight or were bouncing off."
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The conditions didn't help with the field a bit dry in a few patches, but it will be something to fine tune before they face either Workies or Kiwis for the title.
Clifton admittedly didn't think it would eventuate as it has.
"Workies have lost three games in a row to hand us that minor premiership," he said.
"We didn't expect them to lose three in a row."
Sunday was essentially a semi-final for them.
"I thought we played quite well in some spots," Clifton said.
"In other spots we ball watched too much and let Tudors back into the game."
First grade's success completed the minor premiership hat-trick for the club with Souths finishing the regular season on top in first, second and third grade.
Kiwis' captain Josh Worpel said there were "plenty of good signs across the park" in their win.
One of those was that they were able to get some results in the circle and put Workies' defence under pressure.
"Our strikers were getting into good positions and we were creating chances," he said.
Importantly they were able to get results out of those chances. They "weren't just shooting for the sake of shooting".
"We had about eight short corners," Worpel said.
"That's something we've struggled with."
Their last two games they have failed to earn a corner.
Worpel scored both of Kiwis' goals. The first was from a stroke late in the first half. He then doubled their advantage from a corner in the second half.
Chris White got Workies back within one midway through the second half but Worpel thought generally they defended "pretty well".
"To keep Isaac (Farmilo) quiet was pretty pleasing. You give him a sniff inside the circle he can put them away from anywhere," he said.
"We muscled up in the midfield to not allow that ball coming through to him."
Their second win over the premiers in their last three meetings Worpel said they will take a little bit of confidence from knowing they can stick it to them.