The final Northern Inland Premier League season in it's current format finished in thrilling fashion, Troy Hearfield's injury time strike securing Tamworth FC back-to-back premierships.
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After defeating Demon Knights 3-1 in the 2018 decider to complete an undefeated campaign, FC fought back from 1-nil down at half-time to pip North Armidale 2-1.
"It was a tough battle throughout the day, but to win like that is really special," a proud FC coach Greg Bartlett told the Leader's Billy Jupp post-game.
"Being behind at half-time, we knew we would have to dig deep if we wanted to win it and I'm really proud of the way the boys went about it.
"They didn't give up and fought it out all the way until the final whistle, which is something they have really prided themselves on all season."
They had finished the regular season six points clear of North's at the top of the table with 14 wins, two draws and two losses.
In his grand final match report, Jupp wrote: "Taking on North Armidale at Scully Park, FC were made to play catch-up football after Jake Davies booted the first goal of the game, to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at half-time".
"However, the reining premiers would not be denied, as they found an equaliser early in the second half to get the game back on track."
"Minutes ticked away as both sides looked to land a winning blow."
CHECK OUT HOW THE SEASON PANNED OUT IN THE OTHER FOOTY CODES:
"Enter Troy Hearfield, who went back and converted a long-range goal from a controversial free kick to lead his side to victory in injury time."
The deciding free kick somewhat baffling North's coach John Edmunds, who reflected on the club's season as "very positive", despite the heartbreaking loss.
"In my opinion, that's not a free kick 99 times out of 100," Edmunds said.
"But the referee decided that today [Saturday] it was."
The victory marked the first time FC has won back-to-back Premier League titles since 2012-2013.
"Winning one is great, winning two is twice as nice," Bartlett said after what has transpired to be his last game in charge. He has since called time on his coaching career.
"There's not much more you can ask of a group, to be honest."
"They started training for this back on January 7 and have put in a lot of hard work to get to this point."
It was overall a pretty competitive season. Only eight points separated third-placed South Armidale and sixth-placed Demon Knights. Sandwiched between them was the other two Tamworth sides - North Companions and Oxley Vale Attunga, the former sneaking into fourth by virtue of goal difference.
They then went on to upset South Armidale in the minor semi-final before falling to the Redmen in the preliminary final. East Armidale finished with the wooden spoon.
The competition will have a different look next season with Northern Inland Football announcing in November it was scrapping the Premier League in favour of new North and South conferences.
Explaining the decision NIF general manager Julia Farina said there were a number of factors that led to the restructure.
She said: "We've looked at football across the board from five years all the way through to the seniors. And the things is, football is strong in our community.
"But what we've also got to keep in mind is that we've got a number of people that we're providing a service to. So we've got juniors, we've got youth and we've got seniors."
