In Reserve Grade, it was Ethan Alchin and Lleyton Smith from the Under 16’s who stepped up to the challenge, along with half of the Under 18’s team, all of whom had played matches the night before. 

Although outgunned by the Taree side, the commitment from these up-and- coming players is admirable, and shows that the best is yet to come.

In First Grade, the match should have been a walkover for the visitors off the back of a number of convincing wins, however a committed and passionate Redbacks side had different ideas. Although down a goal in the sixth minute, the Redbacks fought back with an equaliser just ten minutes later. An unfortunate own-goal against the run of play saw the Redbacks behind at half-time, but a strong and dominating second half saw the Redbacks once again equalise, and come painfully close to clinching a win. However Taree held out, and the final score of 2-2 still a great result for the Redbacks.

On the field, Jason Balaam played an outstanding game at Centre Forward, and was unlucky not to take the goal scoring lead for the Club during his stella performance on Saturday. 

Under 18’s Goalkeeper Taylor Pate also had an outstanding game, in just his second representation in First Grade, whilst David Jackson and Under 18’s Luke Roe were both strong in the First Grade debuts.

Man of the Match though was awarded to Ryan Marjoribanks, whose faultless efforts in defence were instrumental in the final 2-2 draw. Jeremy Robinson and Jaryd Shaw both also ranked in the Man of the Match points, in a game where there really was no weak player on the field.

Next week sees the men travel to Kempsey to take on Macleay Valley Rangers. In other matches, the Over 35’s will be back at home in Laurieton for their final home match of

the year, as they take on Port FC at 8:05pm, whilst the Ladies will travel to Port Macquarie, also to take on Port FC in their last match before finals on Saturday.