North Armidale United hammered home a convincing win against Demon Knights 3-1 in their Round 6 Premier League game on Saturday at Phil Wheaton Oval, taking full advantage of an early send-off that scuttled DK’s game plan and made life tough against a disciplined and relentless Norths attack.
The first half was all the Redmen dominating possession and controlling the tempo which was fast, exactly what coach Andy Lennon was counting on.
“We started really strongly and went out with the plan that we weren’t going to concede any early goals and we did that quite well,” said Andy.
Points were on the table early for the Redmen, with Willow Grieves scoring after 15 minutes, giving Norths control of the game and all important possession. A send-off to the Demon Knights made life even tougher and right on half-time, Norths scored again through Dave Griffiths.
“We said at half-time that we weren’t going to leak anything in the first 10 or so minutes of the second half and that is exactly what happened,” said Andy.
The Redmen took a 3-nil lead after about 15 minutes into the second half through Bruce Wilson. However, Norths looked tired late in the second half after a very strong first half, allowing DK to score.
“We had a bit of a slow start to the season because we changed the way we played and it has taken a little time to adapt to that,” said Andy.
“We still have a little bit of work to do as we were pretty disappointed that we didn’t finish this game the way we would have liked but, having said that, we are starting to look really good.”
In other Round 6 games, East Armidale United FC defeated Glen Innes Highlanders 4-0 and South Armidale United defeated Guyra United 3-1.
Story: Jo Harrison
