Gunnedah’s third grade soccer team defeated Manilla United 2-1 while Gunnedah’s fourth graders went down 1-0 to Moore Creek in last Friday night’s fixtures at the Tamworth-based Gipps Street Sporting Complex.
The third graders found themselves one point outside the top-four, while the fourths found themselves in third place after sustaining their first defeat of the year.
Manilla somewhat belied its low position on the third grade ladder as the result was in doubt until the very end.
Gunnedah’s Pete Thurbon opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, before Mitch Harding extended the lead with a cracking shot at goal about eight minutes into the second half.
Gunnedah could have led by three goals, but Manilla reduced the margin to one goal with nearly 30 minutes remaining as Jack Wyllie produced a screamer.
Manilla promptly changed its plan of attack and subsequently bombarded Gunnedah’s midfield and backline, but Gunnedah survived several anxious moments.
Manilla’s goalkeeper also produced some booming kicks, while Manilla defended in numbers and was hard to penetrate.
Thurbon, Theo Atkins and Jesse Swain continued their good form for Gunnedah, as did Harding despite battling the flu.
Gunnedah was set back in the fourth grade fixture as Matt Davis and Josh Jolliffe exited with injury in the first eight minutes.
Gunnedah manager Richard Grant said the Gunnedah fourths showed “a lot of ticker” while a lot of the youngsters made an impression, but that they missed a couple of experienced players.
“You play with what you’ve got, you do your best, and that’s what we did,” he said.
Moore Creek’s John Fletcher scored the lone goal of the match with a pearler of a strike in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Following this Friday’s bye, the teams return to action the following Friday.
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