The Northern Inland Academy of Sport FC under-13s' Northern League One triumph didn't really come as a surprise to the architects of their campaign.
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They are the toast of the region after beating Belmont Swansea 6-2 in Saturday's final at the Lake Macquarie Football Complex.
In a performance that assistant coach Dale Lewis said was "pretty hard to beat" for their best of the season, they overcame a nervous start to blow the Newcastle side away.
"It was excellent, a really good team performance.
"I can't really single anyone out, right across the pitch. They were all brilliant," Lewis said.
He spoke of being proud of what the side has achieved, although it was what he and coach Andrew Vernon always thought they were capable of.
He said from "early on" they knew they "had the potential" to go all the way.
"It was just getting to know the opposition as we'd never played in this competition," Lewis said.
"But we knew they had the capabilities."
Victorious in both their previous meetings with Belmont Swansea, they were tested early, conceding a goal inside the first 30 seconds. Then after hitting back to level, they not long after found themselves trailing again.
"[But] They showed their resilience, they got back to 2-all very quickly, and didn't let in another goal," he said.
"Their defence really stepped up from then on. They defended right across the field from the front all the way to the back."
One of the most pleasing things from Lewis' perspective was, particularly for a young side, the maturity they showed when they were behind.
"They probably hadn't been in that sort of position a lot this year. They've probably led most games throughout the year so it was just good to see that they could come back in a situation like that where it was all against them, I guess, at the start," he said.
"Then they just took over and dominated the game from there."
Coming off a double in their semi-final win over Kahibah FC on Wednesday Darcy Watson slotted another brace, Charli Manning, Alex Little and Malusi Macikama also finding the back of the net.
The win was the culmination of nine months of hard work, and commitment from the players and parents. They started training back in February, meeting up twice a week. On top of that was the travel to Newcastle every second weekend.
"We've been lucky enough to have the Joblink Plus bus to travel down to Newcastle every couple of weeks so that's been really good," Lewis said.
Last season just playing in the local Tamworth competition, but up an age, he said the idea of the Northern One was to "put them into something to really challenge them".
They have thrived in that.
"They've all learnt a lot and then just as a team the way they play, their team-work and passing the ball around the field is just so different to what we see in a lot of the opposition," he said.
EARLIER:
The Northern Inland Academy of Sport (NIAS) Football Club under-13s are the 2022 Northern League One champions after a comprehensive 6-2 win over Belmont Swansea in today's final at the Lake Macquarie Football Complex.
After a bit of a nervous start, they dominated the contest, playing some outstanding football NIAS programs manager Richard Willis said.
It wasn't an ideal start from the NIAS side, conceding a goal 30 seconds in after a bit of a defensive mix-up.
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They got back to 1-all only for Belmont Swansea to score again not long after.
But after tieing the scores up at 2-all about 10 minutes in, it was all NIAS.
"I've never seen a young team possess the ball, shut another team out, create so many chances like they did," Willis said.
"Other than that first 10 minutes we controlled every facet of the game."
Darcy Watson, who scored their two goals in their semi-final win over Kahibah FC on Wednesday, slotted another double. Charli Manning, Alex Little and Malusi Macikama also found the back of the net.
Manning was one of four girls in the side and Willis made particular mention of her, Kayla Hystek, Jaimie Grobler and Miley Smith.
Captain Will Vernon was also really good for them, he said in what was a really good team performance.
