The McDonald’s Northern Inland Premier League’s northern conference will have bragging rights over their southern counterparts for the next 12 months.
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Saturday’s All Stars and Rising Stars fixtures were dominated by the men from the north, who came away with victories in both matches.
Mark Gwynne’s Rising Stars set the platform for the north with a thrilling 3-2 come from behind win.
The Stephen Gadd-coached All Stars side then made light work of the south with a cruisy 4-2 triumph.
Inverell’s Jackson Haussler gave Northern All Stars a 1-nil lead just five minutes into the match, but that was quickly equalised by a strike by Adam Watson just four minutes later.
To continue an action packed opening 20 minutes, Mitch Wilson produced a superb effort to give Northern All Stars a 2-1 lead.
South All Stars evened the scored early in the second half, but it was all one-way traffic to the north for the remainder of the match.
Demon Knight’s midfielder James Thompson was the star of the second half with two quick goals sealing victory for Northern All Stars.
“The seniors played well,” Gwynne said.
“They played some really good football, dominated the match really.
“They deserved to win.” It wasn’t quite so easy for Gwynne’s side earlier in the day.
They trailed 2-nil inside the last 25 minutes, but a strike from North Armidale’s Liam Georkas turned the game on its head.
Georkas’ goal brought the score back to 2-1 and two goals in quick succession to Inverell’s Callum Dalby and East Armidale’s Lewis Russoniello snatched victory for Northern Rising Stars.
“It was a very good game,” Gwynne said.
“We started very scrappy, we couldn’t even string two passes together.
“We still had our chances, we just couldn’t take them.” Gwynne said a quick chat a half time helped to turn the tide.
“They weren’t hitting feet and supporting each other with the ball in the first half,” he said.
“Once they started doing that they started smashing them.”
Gwynne said the intensity of the match was far from what you would expect in an exhibition game.
“Tamworth came out blazing,” he said.
“It wasn’t just a fun match.
“It’s a great concept, there should be more of it, but this is a start.”
