Although their top four rivals always remained within striking distance for so much of this season Waratahs FC were the Orange District Football Association A Grade top dogs and rarely, if ever, seriously looked like relinquishing that tag.
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They have now though and after suffering back-to-back losses in their last two starts, the sky blues have actually dropped all the way down to fourth.
They remain 10 points clear of fifth-placed CYMS so with four games left – the side has a bye, but also has a deferred game to make up – Waratahs FC don’t look likely to drop out of the top four, but they are now forced to work that extra bit harder to try and force their way back into the league’s top two.
Occupied by reigning champions Millthorpe and the plucky Barnstoneworth FC side, respectively, the top two spots provide the crucial added bonus of a second chance come finals time, something every post-season bound side strives for.
Fortunately for Waratahs they are just two points shy of Barnies FC, having dropped down to fourth following last weekend’s 2-1 loss to the competition-leading Tigers, and a 2-1 defeat at Barnies FC’s hand the game before.
They’ve got one of the league’s easier runs to the finals too, in three of their four remaining games Waratahs FC face sides below them on the table and play third-placed Barnstoneworth United in the other – the latter is that deferred game.
In last weekend’s other games Barbarians beat Kinross 3-1 and Saints Turbulence drew 2-all with CYMS on Saturday, while on Sunday Barnies United took down Waratahs United 2-1 and Barnies FC defeated Kinross 5-nil on Sunday. The latter was a catch-up game, it was deferred from the previous round.
In the combined B/C Grade’s games, the Wolves and Strikers had a 1-all draw in their all-Waratahs derby while Barnies United thrashed Waratahs Eagles 9-nil and Saints took down Blayney 3-nil.
CYMS Little Johns edged out Blayney (B) 1-nil as well, while CYMS The Hood thumped Ex-Services (B) 8-1, and the result between CYMS Pink and Ex-Services was not available at time of print.
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.
