Western Premier League: Parkes Cobras defeat Barnstoneworth United in penalty shootout

Find the back of the net, and his side were through to the preliminary final. Miss, and the agony of a shootout continues with Barnstoneworth United breathing down their necks.

With such a straight forward situation, it's no wonder his mindset was uncomplicated.

"I was just thinking it's do-or-die, hit it in we win and we're through," he said.

Hit it in he did, keeping the dream alive for his Cobras in their Western Premier League campaign.

The former Macquarie United man couldn't have been more clinical as he put his arm in the air and jumped towards his elated teammates.

"I picked my spot and was always going left," he said.

"I just thought I'd get up there quick, hit it in and done."

With a deluge of rain before the match, Barnies and Parkes' fixture was originally postponed for Sunday. But then the powers that be decided Jack Brabham Park was in a suitable condition for play.

Rain continued to fall throughout the match and made ground passes extremely hard by the time extra-time came to an end.

Kopp agreed the conditions made playing a challenge while Barnies co-captain Grant Koch said he 'didn't really know till 10 o'clock this morning' that they'd be getting on the park.

"It was going to be in Parkes, going to be in Orange, then we got here and it's soaking, so it was tough," Kopp explained.

The Parkes defender was involved early for the game, with his free kick from halfway landing on the head of Mitch Hutchings who made it 1-0 after 22 minutes.

10 minutes later the Cobras were up 2-0 after a Ben Coultas long shot took a deflection.

Barnies were back in the game with five minutes left in the half when Jarvis Marat converted a chance off a cross to make it 2-1 at half-time.

With his side's season on the line, Kenny McCall proved his finals nous to land a special long shot with 15 minutes remaining. The game then eventually went into extra-time at a 2-2 scoreline.

Both sides were no chance of scoring as the rain began to seriously pour throughout the extra minutes.

By the time Kopp's penalty came up in the shootout, Parkes held a 4-3 lead after an early miss from Barnies as the defender continued his side's dream finals run that also saw them win in penalties last week against Bathurst 75s.

With Barnies coming home strong in the final minutes, Kopp believes his side's grit was key in keeping the score tied.

"Our attitude together (was great), we were playing all for each other, and really just sticking together. We know we've only got two weeks together now."

For Barnies, its an unfortunate end to the season for a side that picked up their form considerably after a slow start.

A 'distraught' Koch was happy with his side's improvement throughout the year and already has eyes on what they can achieve in 2023.

"We've done alright, we started off pretty poorly against 'Tahs then really done well since then," he said.

"We were a bit unlucky today but we'll be back again next year and have another crack."