Fourth-placed Barnstoneworth FC sent shockwaves through Orange District Football Association’s A Grade competition again in Saturday afternoon’s 12th round, knocking off a top two side for the second consecutive week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After edging out second-placed Millthorpe the week before the young Barnies outfit came from behind to hand the previously-undefeated, table-topping Waratahs FC outfit its first defeat of the season last weekend, securing a 2-1 victory in abhorrent conditions at Jack Brabham 1.
Although slightly understrength Waratahs still boasted a bumper line-up and it took a huge defensive effort from Barnies to claim the victory after going down 1-nil in the early stages of the clash.
“Waratahs scored in the first five or 10 minutes,” Barnestoneworth FC coach Rob Dawson explained, an absolute worldie from Ryan Sinclair giving the sky blues the lead.
“We equalised before half-time and then scored the match-winner in the second half and obviously didn’t concede any more goals, it was a really good win for us, there’s a lot of skill in that Waratahs side.
“We’re a young side, a new side, a lot of the guys are 18 or under-18. We do have some older guys in the mix, but it’s taken a bit of time to get used to the new formation we’ve been running, a 4-3-3 which some of the guys aren’t used to.
“We’ve really started gelling in the last couple of weeks though, we’re hitting our straps.”
Blake Boulton scored the equaliser for Barnies on Saturday afternoon before Connor Dawson put his side in front after the half-time break, the latter goal proving the match-winner.
“They were both very good, we’ve been training really well and it showed on the weekend, it was just a good team effort really,” Barnies’ coach said, before highlighting a couple of players who shone individually.
“Brendon Manning in the midfield was really good, along with Kaelan McCarthy. Nathan Blandford, in the backline, was outstanding too.
“Our wins recently have been built on really strong defensive efforts.”
Barnies’ win was huge in the scheme of the league too, it pushes them six points clear of fifth-placed CYMS – bested 2-nil by Millthorpe on the weekend – with six rounds left before the finals.
The Tigers made up some points on the competition leaders with that win, as did third-placed Barnstoneworth United thanks to a 4-nil win over Saints Turbulence. Both sides trail Waratahs FC by just two points now, goal difference gives Millthorpe the upper hand though.
In last weekend’s other top grade game Waratahs United downed Barbarians 4-nil.
In the combined B/C Grade league, CYMS Pink made light work of CYMS The Hood in an 11-nil thrashing while Ex-Services (B) edged out CYMS Little Johns 3-2, Ex-Services took down Saints 2-1, Blayney (B) and Barnstoneworth United played out a 2-all draw, Blayney beat Waratahs Strikers 4-1 and Waratahs Eagles defeated Waratahs Wolves 2-1.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
