Barnstoneworth Beyond Blue earned a week off the first spot in the Orange District Football Association B Grade grand final by downing Kinross in Saturday's major semi-final, while CYMS Green progressed to the penultimate week with a hard-fought minor semi-final win over Barnstoneworth Rangers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In fact hard-fought does the latter clash little justice as it went down to a penalty shoot-out as did, incredibly, the major semi-final.
Barnies Beyond Blue prevailed 3-2 on penalties over minor premiers Kinross after the clash was locked at 4-all, with the side's goalkeeper Matthew Barr producing an incredible performance during the shoot-out to lead his side to victory.
Kinross capitalised on a slow start from Beyond Blue and opened the scoring to lead by 2-nil at the 20-minute mark.
The outcome was looking dire for Barnies but they kept their heads up and a few substitutions let them to settle their game and work their way back into the contest.
An excellent shot from outside the box to the top right corner by Chris Davis put Beyond Blue on the board. Shortly after, Josh Horsley scored the equaliser with a good finish off a cross.
Not long before half time, Aaron Slender caught the Kinross defense out of position off a throw in, finding Chris Davis who, with a good turn and shot, gave Barnies a 2-3 lead at the break.
In the second half Barnies continued their momentum with a fourth goal, this time off a long range ball reaching Aaron Slender on the run who finished with a one on one with the keeper, hitting the bottom left corner.
However, the combination of a fatiguing Beyond Blue and the fitness of a young Kinross side soon came to the fore. Kinross came back to equalise with two goals.
For the remaining 17 minutes, Barnies held out an aggressive Kinross to force the extra time.
With some motivational words at the break, Beyond Blue dug deep to find what reserve was left and not only held Kinross out, but took control of the game.
A couple near misses almost gave Barnies the lead but they were unable to score, sending the game to penalties.
Barr will go down in history for his incredible effort in the goals, only allowing in two from five penalties.
The goal scorers from in game, meanwhile, each hit the back of the net to end what was a great show of character, managing to hold on despite fatigue to earn their third straight grand final appearance.
Kinross will meet CYMS Green in the preliminary final.
As we went in to the penalty shoot out, our hearts were in our mouths. We'd played our absolute guts outs and we didn't want to go out that way, and CYMS got the win.
- Barnstoneworth Rangers manager Tori Worboys
The nil-all scoreline at half-time in the match against Barnies Rangers came despite both keepers being given a solid work out.
It took until just 20 minutes before full-time before Rangers forward Tyler Mendham pulled through with a worldie from 20 metres out.
CYMS Green pushed hard and with seven minutes left, they found the net, sending the match into extra time.
It was CYMS who started better, scoring in the first few minutes. Rangers' wonder player Dylan Halls found the equaliser, bumping his goals tally for the season to a hefty 25.
Rangers manager Tori Worboys was disappointed that the game had to be decided by penalties.
"As we went in to the penalty shoot out, our hearts were in our mouths," Worboys said.
"We'd played our absolute guts outs and we didn't want to go out that way, and CYMS got the win.
"But it was a top game and a good effort from Rangers. We were proud of our efforts all season."
In the C grade division one semi-finals minor premiers Waratahs Wanderers have sewn up a grand final berth by downing their elder clubmates, Waratahs Over 35s, in the major semi-final.
They won 4-2, with the latter side now playing Barnstoneworth Over 35s in the preliminary final, they defeated Millthorpe 3-2.
They clubmates Denley Moor came back from 3-1 down to win their C Grade division two minor semi-final over CYMS Gold, eventually prevailing 5-3. They'll take on Blayney, who were defeated 3-1 by Cowra in the major clash.
In division three Waratahs Mariners thrashed Brighouse 5-nil to win through to the decider, while the latter side takes on Waratahs Eagles in the preliminary final.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE SPORT AND NEWS?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...