Round four of the Tamworth Women’s Premier League season will kick off at 1pm on Saturday afternoon and excitement is building as Tamworth FC and Oxley Vale Attunga FC prepare to go head-to-head in a grand final rematch at Gipps Street Sporting Fields.
These two sides shared the major accolades last season, with Tamworth FC crowned premiers after finishing seven points clear at the top of the table and OVA crowned champions after defeating Tamworth FC 2-1 in the grand final at Scully Park.
They have both started this year in scintillating and in almost identical fashion. Both sides are undefeated so far and have dominated on the scoreboard. Tamworth FC are yet to conceded following an 11-0 win against Kootingal and District FC in round one and a 5-0 win against Quirindi FC in round two, while OVA have only conceded one goal following a 3-0 win against Quirindi in round one and a 7-1 win against North Companions in round three.
Tamworth FC enter this weekend coming off a bye after OVA sat out with their bye in round two. Both teams are pumped for what will be their biggest test of the year so far in a match that provides them with the chance to gain the early ascendancy as the outright top spot on the table is up for grabs.
Tamworth FC’s coach Will Priest has liked what he has seen from his side so far in 2024 and is excited for their round four clash.
“The girls are playing really, really well,” Priest said.
“I’m loving coaching them again and we’re having a blast. We’ve got a good group and I couldn’t be happier.
“We’re moving the ball around well and playing to our shape, and obviously the finishing is really good at the moment.
“It’ll be more of the usual from OVA on Saturday I’d say. When we play them, we know it’s always going to be a tough game. There’ll be a bit of fire in it.
“The grand final is in the past now. Credit to them, they were too good that night. They won that grand final with their physicality and their passion and we just couldn’t match them. But for us, we’re focused on this year and we want to keep building so hopefully we can win the grand final.”
Priest has identified OVA’s set pieces as one of their biggest strengths, and he said his team would need to be on high alert when defending free-kicks and corners on Saturday.
“OVA are absolutely the best team at set pieces in our competition,” the Tamworth FC coach said.
“We didn’t concede too many goals against them from open play last year. But they scored a lot of goals, not just against us but against other teams, from set pieces, and they even scored the winner in the grand final from a corner.
“We’ve really got to be switched on at set pieces on Saturday.”
OVA have had a squad overhaul this season with several players from last year’s championship-winning team not going around again in 2024. Coach Steve Doherty said that they were a work in progress and he was excited to see how they match up against a quality opposition outfit on Saturday when they meet Tamworth FC.
“We’re a vastly different team this year after a significant overhaul of the team with players having babies, leaving town or retiring,” Doherty said.
“We’re still figuring each other out to some extent. About half our team that will play on Saturday didn’t play last year, so we’re still finding our way a little bit.
“In the first game, we played Quirindi. I thought they were really good and they’ve come a long way over the years. They played some good football and it took a while for us to get over the top of them.
“We then had the bye which didn’t help much so early in the season, and then we had Northies last week. We ran away with that one in the end, but again, it took a while to dominate.
“We’re starting to see some good patterns of play and things that we’re working on coming off. We’re a work in progress I think, but our aim is to enjoy the season and get better as it goes on.
“I haven’t seen (Tamworth FC) play this year, but I believe they’re stronger than last year, which will make things tougher. They’re always pretty good across the park. We know they’re normally very robust and fairly direct, and defensively they are so hard to break down. Both our leading scorers from last year are not playing this year, so the big challenge for us this weekend will be finding goals against a side that is well-organised in defence.”
The other round four match on Saturday will see Quirindi challenge North Companions at Marius Street Sporting Fields, while Kootingal and District FC sit out with the bye.
Quirindi and Northies are yet to win so far this season and will be chasing their first victories when they go head-to-head.
A major boost this season for women’s football in the Northern Inland region has been the expansion of the second division competition. Quirindi made the jump into the Premier League to make it a five-team competition, and Hillvue Rovers, South United and Kootingal’s second team have been joined by OVA, Tamworth FC and Quirindi’s new reserve grade sides to form a strong six-team competition.
Tamworth FC and Hillvue Rovers currently lead the way with nine points each after three rounds following three consecutive wins each.