An undefeated season, a century of goals and a minor/major premiership double are up for grabs for Tamworth FC on Saturday night in the Tamworth Women’s Premier League first grade grand final, but their opponents Oxley Vale Attunga are ready to spoil the party as they go in search of their second consecutive championship in a highly-anticipated grand final rematch.
The two top-ranked teams will go head-to-head at Scully Park from 5pm following the reserve grade grand final between Tamworth FC and Hillvue Rovers FC.
Tamworth FC have been in red-hot form all year in the first grade competition and they boast a perfect record going into the decider. They ended the regular season with a maximum 36 points following 12 wins from 12 matches, and they scored 95 goals while conceding just one during a dominant campaign.
The minor premiers then stormed into the grand final with a 4-0 victory against OVA in the major semi-final on Saturday, September 7, as they took their goal tally for the season to 99.
All of that is history now though and they are focused on getting the job done against the defending champions on Saturday. Tamworth FC’s coach Will Priest is confident his side can do the 2024 double but he is well-aware that OVA will be hungry to ensure that does not happen.
“This season’s hard to top really,” Priest said.
“Ninety-nine goals for, one against, going into the grand final undefeated. You can’t really beat that.
“We don’t want to make any assumptions, but if we can nick one on Saturday that would make it goal number 100 for the year.
“Grand finals are very different; there is different pressure. When players get the ball they feel like someone is on top of them. We don’t normally play in front of too many people but this weekend there will be a big crowd and there will be a lot of noise and a different atmosphere. It’s going to be a tough one.
“OVA are a hard team to read at the moment. When we played them a couple of weeks ago, they sat really deep and they had all 11 players behind the ball at times, and that made it really hard to break them down. But then last week (in a 3-1 preliminary final win over Quirindi) I think they played their best football. They really opened up and had a few more players up the pitch and were a lot more dynamic.
“They’ll be tough to beat.”
Tamworth FC went into the grand final as minor premiers last season as well but were beaten by the second-placed OVA 2-1 at Scully Park. Priest said that while his side were not at their best that night and OVA deserved all of the credit for getting the job done, that was now a distant memory as two new-looking teams get set to battle it out for the championship this Saturday.
That being said, if Tamworth FC are to get the job done, they will have to overcome an interesting hoodoo. Not since 2017 have the minor premiers of the top women’s competition in Tamworth gone on to win the grand final, and it was Tamworth FC who did it back then seven years ago.
OVA have featured in the past two grand finals, losing the 2022 decider 7-1 against North Companions after winning the minor premiership before bouncing back in style last season to take down Tamworth FC 2-1.
If they are going to make it two in a row this season they will have to do something they have been able to in four matches so far in 2024, which is score a goal against Tamworth FC. They were beaten 11-0 in round four, 3-0 in round nine, 10-0 in round 14 and then 4-0 in the major semi-final.
The OVA ladies bounced back from that semi-final loss to take down Quirindi last Saturday in the preliminary final as Emily Daley struck either side of half-time to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead before Grainne Shepherd sealed the 3-1 victory with a brilliant strike in the 84th minute.
OVA’s coach Steve Doherty will miss Saturday’s grand final as he awaits the birth of his first grandchild in Brisbane, but he is confident his side has what it takes to cause an upset and win a second straight championship.
“We’ll only have three people on the field in the grand final who played last year. This year has been a massive rebuild for us really,” Doherty said.
“Tamworth FC have been so good all year and finishing second was probably the realistic aim for most teams this year.
“It’s been a pretty good season for us and we’ve played some good football. I’m pretty happy with our season.
“Last week against Quirindi, we were on the back foot in the first half but we were much, much better in the second half and we deserved the win. But Quirindi, the way they have progressed from two years ago, that’s a great news story for the region. I have a lot of respect for the way Quirindi are playing this year.
“Tamworth FC are going to be a tough one this weekend. They’ve only conceded one goal all year, so scoring a goal is the challenge.
“Last time we played them we did create a couple of half chances, but they are just so strong across the whole park. It’s a matter of keeping them contained and then trying to see if we can pinch one ourselves. That can change the game, and I think it can be done.”
