Oxley Vale Attunga haven't taken long to find their groove again, a four-goal haul from Cale Penrith firing them to a come-from-behind four goal win over Woolgoolga in their FFA Cup third round clash in Woolgoolga on Saturday.
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The Mushies slotted six unanswered goals to fight back from an early two goal deficit and claim a 6-2 win.
In his first game back in charge after stepping away from coaching last season, Mushies coach Tim Coates said they started well and would have had eight or nine good chances early.
But they were unable to convert them and instead found themselves 2-nil down after 30 minutes.
The first of Penrith's four dragged it back to 2-1 at half-time.
Young Mushies keeper Ben Stewart made a great one-on-one save early in the second half to keep the difference at one.
As Coates put it "the fightback was on in earnest", and in contrast to the first half the Mushies were able to turn their chances into goals.
Penrith added another three, Mitchell O'Keefe and Hugh Archbold also finding the back of the net as they advanced to the fourth round.
Penrith and Archbold were along with Will Menz and debutant Nick Bowden the Mushies best but Coates said it was "a strong 14 man performance".
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He said both teams had five players 20 or under, blended in with some older heads, Brendan Fergie, Ryan Searl, Sam Higgins and Luke Purcell all making their returns for the Mushies.
The only sour note was an injury to Stewart late in the game. He had to be replaced by part-time keeper Logan McCarthy with 15 minutes to go.
The Mushies were well and truly on top by then though and McCarthy wasn't required to make a save.
They will learn on either Monday or Tuesday when, and against who, their next game is.
They are scheduled to play a trial game against Kurri Kurri in Tamworth on March 21, and will also be taking part in the Johnson Cup.
Coates said they will also look at other options for trial games.
The Mushies win was a positive end to what has been a bit of a tumultuous week for the sport in the region with five of the Armidale based clubs deciding to abandon the Northern Inland Football competition in favour of a rebel competition run by UNE Life.
Their departure has raised some questions about the structure of the competition for 2020. All five clubs were set to feature in the 'northern' conference of the proposed new conference structure.
But Coates' understanding is that the southern conference, of which OVA will be a part of, will continue unchanged.
He said he and O'Keefe, who is the Mushies president, "had a great discussion" with NIF general manager Julie Farina during the week.
"We're confident they're going to look at other options to give us other games against the other teams," he said.
