Gentle header sparks feverish celebrations at Farrer

It was only a few seconds after the team began its raucous celebrations that the spectators at the Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School ground grasped that the home side had won and would progress to the second round of the 2022 Boys Puma Cup KO Competition finals.

"The crowd didn't quite know it was golden goal," Farrer coach Tristan Jones said.

"But when all of our players started running around madly, they figured it out and went on to the field."

It was a scintillating end to a match which "could have gone either way", Jones said, and was the toughest of Farrer's campaign so far.

But that was to be expected, the coach added.

"We knew it was going to be tough, but we were confident in our ability," he said.

"It was a really good game of football."

Farrer qualified for the finals off the back of wins over Gunnedah High (by forfeit), Glenn Innes High School, Lightning Ridge Central School, and, finally, Armidale Secondary School in the regional final.

The game against Armidale, which Farrer won 2-0, was "tough", Jones said, but "not the same quality" as today's game.

In beating Mitchell, the Farrer team has also ticked off a self-imposed goal to make it past the first round of finals, where they were knocked out in the 2021 tournament.

Now, their eyes are fixed on a semi-final berth, and their chances have been improved, Jones said, by their time at the CHS State Championships in Bathurst last month.

"It was a good opportunity for them to face that level of quality down there," he said.

"They got to see who they're going to be up against. That was a good experience for sure ... it's just that next level up from what they normally play on a Saturday."

Farrer's next game will be against the winner of the final between Glendale and Epping. The next round of finals is set to be completed by July 29, and victory in that game will see Farrer through to the semi-finals in August.

From here, Jones expects stern challenges no matter who they play. But the team is particularly dedicated to going as far as they can in the tournament.

"They've been training twice a week, they're coming in before school to train," Jones said.

"They've put a lot of time and effort into it."

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