The Bombers took off, oh yeah they were energetic, shades of last weekend indeed Naomichi Matsuda and Liam Fuller in full flight form the get go but the Raiders more composed, organised  and certainly more competitive as they blunted a number of attacks. Joseph Andrew Petite and Mick McCormick in position and strong at the back for the home side and they needed to be as the Bombers came knocking on the door.  With a larger share of possession the Boambee side took a deserved lead after a long throw eluded all defensive attempts to clear and Christian Ponny on the spot to whack in the Bombers first goal on 28 minutes from just inside the Raiders penalty area mmm wasn’t well received from the large home crowd I can report together with late penalty claims from the Raiders that were dismissed by Mackie didn’t help the mood either. Yes Grant Homes had smashed a shot which looked goal bound but blocked by a phalanx of rising Bomber defenders maybe an arm anyhow the Bombers 1 up at the break and their belief in a positive result palpable now.

Just what message Peter Tiberius Snow delivered would be pure speculation on my part but the result was obvious as Urunga gained a greater share of possession and the Boambee lads that had burned so brightly in the first stanza not so bright now. Ben Dooley just being an absolute pest for the Bombers defence pressuring defenders into errors and then setting up attacks, that coupled with the constant threat of the newly anointed North Coast Football’s player of the year Luke Troy France cruising between the Boambee defensive lines like a Great White looking for a seal, safe to say the Bombers weren’t feeling the sunshine now they were feeling the heat.

Joseph Andrew Petite had tackled Matsuda, not easy feat considering Matsuda’s prodigious speed, anyhow Petite sent a raking ball up field for France to accelerate onto. Some would argue (and rightly) that France doesn’t have the physical attribute of acceleration but it wouldn’t be the North Coast keeper of the year, Jake Stitt, though as he perceived the threat too late and like a great white to a seal France was off easing the ball past Stitt and levelling the scores. Twenty minutes to go in someone’s season with the Raiders in full attack mode now, Kale Hopper able to set up France again but this time felled by the late challenge of Ryan Matthew and Bruce Mackie calmly awarding. Ok here we go as Hopper steps up delivers  and Stitt dives left blocking the shot, probably not the best result for the home side right there but Stitt magnificent. Did not matter though as again France away again this time via a deft ball from Homes just lofted over the defensive line and France, well it was a feeding frenzy!  Seizing the opportunity and the ball to chip the advancing Stitt, yes the player of the year chips the keeper of the year haha beautiful. 2-1 now and Urunga fully dominant in the shadows of full time made it 3-1 after Jake Leslie’s cross found Ben Dooley’s right foot and Dooley finishing from close range like it was a training drill.

Boambee had been worthy contestants indeed and on another day might have achieved a different result but it’s not so easy to do that at the Cabbage Patch. In other results the women’s first grade went down 2-0 to Boambee while the Raiders men’s Reserve grade had an emphatic 5-1 win over Orara Valley Dingoes, Josh McGovern starring with 3 goals the third an absolute snorter from range ‘the best goal I’ve scored’ confessed an emotional McGovern post-match just before he left to sign autographs, Cale Simmonds 1 and Emar Foran 1 enough to put the Ressies into the big show this weekend at the Coffs International Stadium. Not since those halcyon days of 2006 have we seen both Raiders sides in the grand final and ten years ago as I recall it went quite well. Hope to see you there at the stadium where it will be Raiders V Maclean in the Ressies and Raiders V Coffs in first grade. Go U Raiders!