Having taken all six points from the Tuncurry-Forster Tigers in round one, the home side would have been quietly confident of repeating the feat, especially fielding their strongest side of the year so far.

The Tigers have gradually been welcoming players back from injury or absence, and as such are starting to see the depth across the whole squad that they had last season, and would have gained confidence in the wins achieved before this clash, which would for both sides potentially be a stepping stone in the race for the semi-finals.

The Wildcats were quickest out of the blocks and dominated the first 15 to 20 minutes of the game, spreading the ball wide to danger men Jordan Howard and Jackson Witts, and really pressuring the Tigers’ defensive block.

Curtis Jones in the Tigers’ goal was called upon to make a couple of fine saves to keep the scoreboard empty, and after weathering the early storm the visitors began to match the pace of the game centrally, with Joey Newman and Rod Yanez cutting out many of the vertical passes that had been causing concern.

As they did, they then began to be able to bring wide men Jack McDonagh and Cal Smith into play, and McDonagh in particular had several shots on goal that were well covered by Wildcats’ custodian Josh Ferris.

A slight tactical shift allowed the Tigers to apply a little more pressure on the Wildcats central defence, and Matt Whight in combination with Will Moran (in his first start for the top grade) began to fashion a few chances for themselves as well.

As so often happens in this league, it was a cheap turnover in possession from the defence that allowed Joey Newman to intercept a ball played out by the Wildcats just short of the centre circle, and spotting Whight’s sharp run in behind the Wildcats, threaded a great pass between the outstretched legs of both central defenders and into Whight’s path, with the big striker making no mistake in sliding the ball past Ferris to put the Tigers ahead.

The Tigers then had to dig in deep to half time as a series of free kicks and corners to the Wildcats saw the ball in the danger zone on multiple occasions, but contrary to their last visit to Omaru the visitors defended these very well indeed, with Codey Chick and Pete Goonan really dominating the box.

The second half continued in much the same way as the first, with real intensity and effort from both sides. Scoring chances came, and went, for both teams until Taree was awarded a free kick deep in the Tigers half adjacent to the penalty area.

Howard took it quickly and the Tigers defence unfortunately left Taree’s Ricky Campbell unmarked, and he finished from close range to bring the Wildcats level.

From then on both sides could have won the game, with both keepers called upon to snuff out 1v1 situations that would have otherwise put their respective teams ambitions to rest.

With the final score Taree Wildcats one TFFC one both coaches were left to ponder what might have been, but ultimately would have been relieved to have gotten at least a point out of the match.

A testimony to the defensive efforts from both sides was that both team’s man of the match awards went to defenders, with Codey Chick just edging out Curtis Jones from the Tigers perspective.

The Tigers now look ahead to next Saturday to the visit of a high flying Port United, who are performing way above their 2016 position on the ladder would have suggested.

The reserve grade game kicks off at 1.15pm with first grade following at 3PM at the Tuncurry Sports Complex in Stewart Parade, Tuncurry.

The Tigers’ reserves continued their fine form in front of goal, scoring four unanswered goals over a strong Taree side who had been travelling reasonably well up until Saturday.

Fine strikes from in-form striker Daniel Barry and David Rowe put the visitors comfortably ahead at half time, and then shortly after the resumption the Tigers extended their lead with a well-struck penalty by Barry.

At three goals to the good the Tigers relaxed a little too much, and found themselves on the receiving end of a penalty decision.

However, Clay Cooper once again demonstrated his prowess against the spot kick, saving well from ex-Tiger Dylan Webber.

This woke the Tigers up again and they made the result emphatic by adding a fourth, this time from skipper Billy Newman, who has hit some fine form of late. 

David Rowe played very well at his first crack at the number 10 role and shared the players’ player vote with Daniel Barry.

Bryce Cramp improved on his showing from the previous week, and Adam Christensen once again showed how versatile he is with a dominant performance, this time in the centre of defence.

Final score Taree Wildcats reserves 0 TFFC Tigers reserves 4.