The Northern Inland Premier League's premiers are back in action and ready to roll today following a well-deserved break in week one of the finals series.
Top-ranked first grade duo Moore Creek (Southern Conference) and Inverell (Northern Conference) will go head-to-head at Gipps Street Sporting Field's GA5 in the major semi-final, with the home grand final being up for grabs in that contest as the winner will go straight through to the big dance.
The loser of that match will take on today's minor semi-final winner a week later in the third week of the finals series.
In first grade, the minor semi-final will see Oxley Vale Attunga welcome Armidale City Westside to GA6 following their respective elimination final victories last Saturday.
Westside hosted North Companions at Harris Park and prevailed 2-0 after Aiden Webster scored either side of the half-time break. His 32nd-minute strike saw the hosts open the scoring, and he then doubled their lead in the 67th minute.
OVA travelled to Doody Park and scored a 3-1 victory against Demon Knights after the two sides were locked at 1-1 at the break. Cameron Weir fired the Tamworth side out to a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the contest before DK equalised on the half-hour-mark through Shane McCann. Josh Downey restored OVA's lead three minutes into the second stanza and then Matt Kelly doubled their advantage with 10 minutes left to play.
Inverell and Moore Creek had a chance to rest and regroup while those matches were being played ahead of this Saturday's major semi-final.
The Inverell men are fired up heading into that clash, with three key motivations driving their preparation this week.
The first of those is the occasion that a home grand final on September 28 would create, given that the annual Inverell Rale Rasic Joeys Mini World Cup will be running that weekend. It would certainly be a spectacle if the NIPL decider were to be held during that event, and the players are keen to make that happen.
The second is avenging their only loss of the season. Moore Creek are the only team to have beaten Inverell this year and they did so in dominant fashion when they prevailed 5-2 at the Inverell Sporting Complex back in round seven in May. Both coaches admitted that Inverell had a handful of first grade regulars unavailable that day, but the loss still stings an Inverell playing group that is determined to turn the tables against the Mountain Goats.
The match is expected to be a quality contest from a neutral standpoint as the two top teams this year go head-to-head, and Schutz said he was expecting a tough clash from the Mountain Goats.
The Inverell coach was also thrilled with the premiership in the club's return season in the NIPL.
"We went into the competition just looking to be competitive, and to finish on top in the regular season is a pretty good achievement. The boys are pretty happy with that result but they know they still have a bit of work to do," Schutz said.
"The grand final is always the big one, but the minor and major premierships both hold their own place as something special in the club. We've finished first in four grades this year, which is pretty good.
"We've had a few little rough patches throughout the year but our season has been good. The guys have been ultra-consistent with the way they have played and trained.
"I take the last game (against Moore Creek) with a grain of salt because we had four or five players out. They'll be tough and it will be a good contest this weekend. Our guys will be ready.
"We have to stop their talk. I think if we can do that early, that will be big. They're a yappy young side.
"We have a different formation from when we played them, and we're pretty solid in what we're doing. If we win the midfield, we win the game. It's pretty simple.
"We've been playing out the 90 minutes a lot lately too, which was something we struggled a lot with earlier in the season. We've got a few more mature players back in the midfield now which is making a big difference."
Inverell wrapped up the premiership in style as they defeated East Armidale United 9-1 in a rescheduled round 13 match on the final day of winter, which extended their winning streak to six games and their undefeated run to 12. They are now determined to keep the roll-on going this Saturday.
Moore Creek are also in some red-hot form of their own. They ended the regular season with a 10-0 victory over Tamworth FC to extend their winning streak to five games, and they are unbeaten in eight since they went down 4-0 against North Companions back in round 11 in June.
The Mountain Goats' coach Andy Cygan said that his men deserved the premiership and were looking forward to battling for the championship in the finals series.
"I'm really proud of this. Being English, I've always said winning the league is more important than anything else," Cygan said.
"The next plan is to make it to the grand final, and then from there, whatever happens, happens.
"It was pretty close there with us and OVA. They are still the team we can't beat though. We drew nil-all and they beat us 5-2.
"It went down to goal difference in the end, and I know that big win against East Armidale really helped us, but I think we deserved it. We only lost three games this season."
The Moore Creek coach is expecting a much tougher contest against Inverell than the last time the two sides met.
"We beat them 5-2 and it probably could have been more," Cygan said.
"Apparently they had a few players missing that day though.
"I think it will be a good game between us. They have to play reserve grade too, so it will be interesting to see if they can bring 30 players with them.
"It will be tougher than last time, definitely. We've only seen them once, but you only have to look at the rest of their results and their Australia Cup run.
"We'll need to be fast and defend well, and they have a really dangerous left winger, so we'll need to keep him quiet.
"What we've done every week for the past five or six is we've started so fast, been two and three-nil up after 10-15 minutes, but the second halves haven't been great apart from the past couple of weeks, so we need to go for the 90 minutes.
"Also we don't concede many, but when we do, we seem to go on and concede a few. If we concede on Saturday, we need to put it out of our minds and go again.
"We're full strength. It'll be the first time I've got a real selection headache this year. There are 12 fresh first grade players and obviously only 11 can start. One will be fresh off the bench.
"It's a big game and we're really keen to win this one to get the home grand final."
In reserve grade, premiers Inverell (Northern Conference) and Oxley Vale Attunga (Southern Conference) will also meet at Gipps Street Sporting Field's GA5 today following a weekend off after securing first-place finishes.
The winner of that match will go straight through to the decider.
Those two sides have met once so far this season when OVA travelled to Inverell in round five back in May and went down 2-1.
The minor semi-final will see South Armidale United and Moore Creek go head-to-head at GA6 following their elimination final victories last Saturday.
Moore Creek defeated Armidale City Westside 2-1 at Harris Park while South Armidale United downed Hillvue Rovers 3-1.
The victory in week one of the finals continued a brilliant second half of the season for the Scorpions. They were a mid-table team when Ruwan Cooper took over as coach ahead of their 3-1 loss against Norths United in round 10, but they have won eight of their 10 matches since then while keeping a clean sheet in half of those fixtures.
Cooper admitted they were not at their best during their win over the Rovers last Saturday and they would need to improve against a Mountain Goats side that they went down 4-3 against in round 12 back in June.
"Wasn't real good," was Cooper's short and sharp assessment of their performance in the 3-1 victory.
"We dominated possession but we just didn't create enough final-third opportunities, and that is going to have to change this week.
"We were very happy after the game with the result, but we definitely have to improve against the Goats.
"When we played them last time, they were really dominant and the scoreline flattered us a little bit. Even though it was 4-3, they were a lot more dominant than we were, and hopefully this time around we are better prepared and make it more of a better game.
"We'll need to win the midfield battle. That's where they were better than us last time. It'll be about holding shape this weekend and making sure we do our own jobs."
