THE URUNGA Raiders booked their place in the North Coast Premier League football grand final with a tense 2-1 win over the Sawtell Scorpions on Sunday.
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After a week of heavy rain including a downpour of biblical proportions on Saturday night, it seemed inevitable the game would be played in similar conditions to the first leg mud bath at Toormina Oval.
The Cabbage Patch itself was under water but, incredibly, the junior fields 100 metres down the road were firm, dry and ready for action. The contrast between the two pitches led pundits to suspect that master groundsman Wayne Sharkey has been secretly trialling non-FIFA approved ground drainage techniques on the southern fields.
It wasn’t quite the home grand advantage the Raiders would have liked, playing on a pitch that was foreign to both teams, but they still had the home town supporters, who showed up in numbers to spur them on.
With Harry Gale absent with illness, a slight reshuffle was needed. Dom Kelly-Ramirez moved to central defence to partner Paul Pomroy, and Tanjil Everitt was poached from reserve grade to slot into the midfield.
The Raiders started brightly, slotting straight into their fluid passing game, or ‘deck footy’ as one eloquent pundit tagged it. Cale Simmonds was finding miles of space between the Scorpions defenders, and Josh McGovern was dangerous as ever with his smartly timed runs from midfield.
Craig Simpson was giving his young marker a torrid time on the left wing, to the extent that it forced an early substitution on the 20-minute mark by Sawtell coach Richard Evans, bringing on a player whom he hoped could cope with Simpson’s class a little better. Minutes later they had to make a second change when Scorpions veteran Peter O’Neill had to leave the pitch with a knee injury.
Despite looking the stronger, disaster struck for the Raiders in the 35th minute. Kelly-Ramirez, with the ball at his feet at halfway, slipped on the turf and Scorpions danger man Ben Andrews was on it in a flash, pinching the ball and charging towards goal to finish with class.
As they have done all year, the Raiders did not panic, trusting that if they stayed to their game plan the goals would come. Minutes before the half time whistle Urunga were awarded a free kick 25 yards out.
Paul Pomroy’s effort was blocked by the defensive wall, Jaxen Heward fired back into the box from the rebound and Jai Wadick was on hand to deftly volley in from 12 yards out.
1-1 Half-time.
Returning from the sheds for the second half, the equation was simple – the Raiders had to score again. Score and not concede. A draw would see Sawtell through to the grand final, only a win would do for Urunga.
The Raiders stepped up the intensity and began to dominate the midfield battle. As a result the Scorpions began defending deeper, allowing Hopper and McGovern space to run at them. Several chances came and went, until success arrived on the hour mark.
A long throw in by Jaxen Heward drew the goalkeeper off his line, but it was flicked over him by Simmonds, allowing Simpson to head in to an open goal from point blank. 2-1.
Now it was Sawtell who needed a goal to progress, and as the clock ran down they desperately pushed numbers forward but the Raiders defence was looking rock solid by this stage.
The Scorpions willingness to attack left them dangerously exposed at the back, and despite only needing to hold on to their lead the Raiders knew a third goal would really kill the game off.
Fabrice Wamara came off the bench and lit up the final 15 minutes with his pace and skill, going close to scoring on two occasions only to be denied by the upright.
2-1 it stayed until the final whistle. It was a tight, tense and torrid, and as good as finals football gets.
And news got better after the match, when reports filtered through that the Boambee Bombers had caused a major upset by defeating the minor premiers, Coffs United Lions, in the other semi-final, making it the first time the Lions have not made the grand final in 10 years.
Despite a 3-2 loss on the day, the Raiders reserve grade side still progressed through to the grand final due to their emphatic 3-0 away win to Northern Storm the previous week, giving them a 5-3 aggregate victory.
First half goals to Joseph Pettit and Sam Sawtell meant the young Raiders side never really looked in danger of throwing away their three goal cushion.
To complete the accomplishment the under 17s, many of whom also play reserve grade, won their semi-final 5-0 to make it three grades, three grand finals.
Coffs Harbour International Stadium will be the venue for the grand finals this weekend, as the Raiders men look to win just their second North Coast Football premiership in the club’s history, the first being in 2006.
Check the Urunga Raiders Facebook or www.northcoastfootball.com.au for the grand final times.
Go You Raiders.