Last Friday was a tough day at the office for Gunnedah’s third and fourth grade soccer teams, as they were outgunned at the Tamworth-based Gipps Street Sporting Complex.
The fifth-placed third graders went down 3-1 to the second-placed Moore Creek, before the third-placed fourth graders had a hefty 6-0 loss to the second-placed Hillvue Rovers.
Gunnedah’s third graders seemingly had the upper hand for the first 30 minutes, but they were unable to score in that time-frame.
The game was scoreless for nearly 20 minutes, before Moore Creek nabbed two goals in four minutes against the run of play as Shaun Calliess and Noah Nolan found the back of the net.
Gunnedah was set back in the 25th minute as Josh Jolliffe succumbed to injury, but a belated goal to Jesse Swain about 10 minutes later gave Gunnedah a lift.
Swain and teammate Theo Atkins showed their talent as they probed and looked for opportunities, but Gunnedah missed some potency and strikepower due to the absence of Mitch Harding.
Nolan landed the sole goal in the second half, although there was plenty of time for Gunnedah to recover.
Gunnedah manager Richard Grant said he thought the belief and confidence were “still there”, while the team needed to focus on a top four spot after losing touch with the top two.
In fourth grade, Gunnedah had its first outing for three weeks due to a forfeit being followed by a washout. Incidentally, Gunnedah’s most recent match yielded a 5-0 loss to the Rovers.
Player availability was a concern for Gunnedah’s fourth graders last Friday, as several senior players were absent due to work commitments or injuries.
Hillvue scored three goals in each half, with Dwayne Marshall bagging a double while Sarathraj Vanaja, Stephen Hurst, Brett Hazelwood and Tian Stanford scored once each.
Grant said one positive from the game was good sportsmanship from Gunnedah’s opponents.
