The Under 12’s defeated Greta-Branxton on Saturday to secure their spot in the season decider.

While, the Under 16’s had the weekend off after winning their major semi in a thriller against minor premiers Lake Macquarie on August, 20.

It is an amazing achievement for a both teams.

The 16’s will once again take on Lake Macquarie at Marks Oval, North Belmont and kick off is 2.15pm this Saturday (September 3).

The 12’s are up against the Lambton Jaffas but the game will be played just down the road at Miller Park, Branxton.

Their game will start nice and early at 9.30am

U12’s Coach, Jamie Tredinnick says his team started their finals campaign against Maitland.

“Coming off some great wins towards the end of the competition we knew that if we focused on some basic soccer attacking and defence we would get over the line,” he says.

“With the team scoring in the first couple of minutes it was a good foundation to settle down and play some good soccer.”

The final score was 4-0 and it was a great confidence booster, Tredinnick says.

But they knew going into the preliminary final to fight for a grand final spot was going to be tougher.

As it turns out Singleton come out with guns blazing heading a great goal from a cross early in the game. 

Another goal not long after and they were 2 nil up at the halftime break.

Tredinnick says the second half was tough and some opportunities went begging but they were able finish the game with a 2-nil win. 

“Our next game in the grand-final against Lambton is going to be a very tough game,” he concedes.

 “But if we can continue to keep playing great soccer the win will come.”

After struggling to find players, and a coach, at the start of the season the 16’s have defied the odds.

Coach, Simon Kelly, explains the U16’s only had eight registered players after sign on in February, and club president, Mark Henderson asked the kids themselves to chase up some recruits.

“To their credit they did and the numbers increased to a small but workable twelve. Thankfully, Nadine Mc Bride put her hand up to manage the team. The next problem was a coach. Some parents were happy to ‘keep an eye on the kids’, but no one was keen to commit to the coaches role. With a small amount of arm twisting I put the easy chair back into storage, slippers to the back of the cupboard, and came out of 'retirement' to coach,” he says.

“After a very short pre-season the season got underway with some mixed results, a draw with Kahibah, a heavy loss to eventual minor Premiers Lake Maquarie, and a big win in the local derby against Greta Branxton. By this stage team structure and playing positions began to solidify. In saying that goalkeeping duties were shared around to a certain extent, but Seaton Fuller has claimed the gloves for the big games.” 

He says the teams back line is made up of Connor McLoughlin(Capt), Kyah Mc Bride(Vice Capt), Zac Hill and Emily Smith.

In the Midfield is Connie Yeomans, Mitch Kelly, Braeden Rowe, Sam O 'Neil and Josh Kime and upfront is Liam Mc Manus and Peter Watson.

Kelly says it has to be noted that from time to time the 16's have had help from both the U15/2's and in particular the U14/1's.

“Thanks, especially to Elijah Smith, Sophia Holz, Tom Druery and Kye Dann without their help we wouldn't have done as well as we have.”

At the closing of the regular season the U16’s  sat in second spot, but with two catch up games to take place the following week, they had  to wait with baited breath on other results.

Kelly says as expected Lake Maquarie beat Greta-Branxton meaning they'd gone the whole season undefeated.

“The big surprise was cellar dwellers Garden Suburb beating third placed Kahibah. This was great news for us as it meant we got a crack at the minor premiers, knowing that a win would put us straight into the grand- final.”

And, as we now know this is exactly what happened.

Kelly recalls the game in great detail as only this dedicated coach can.

With an injury cloud over pocket rocket forward Peter Watson (ankle), we were happy to have the 14's Elijah Smith on board for the finals. The squad had trained well in the lead up to the Saturday game at former NPL ground at South Cardiff. Nothing was left to chance, all bases were covered including the practicing of penalties, just in case.

After shipping 10 goals in two games against the Lake Macquarie team Singleton were definitely the underdog, but relished the tag. The game in the first half was fairly even with both teams creating chances. Both Liam and Peter had one v one opportunities against Lakes keeper but were thwarted every time. Lakes struck first late in the first half, a driven ball from the edge of the box was too hot to handle for Seaton and hit the back of the net.

The second half began with Singleton passing well, exerting the pressure and with a well timed thru ball from Braeden it was Liams shot that was parried by Lakes keeper only for Liam to follow up and equalise. The longer the game went the better Singleton got. With the score locked at 1-1 extra time ensued.

Chances kept coming for Singo, and they looked the fitter side but time ran out and we entered the the twilight zone that is  the penalty shootout. Liam, Peter and Mitch converted the first three penalties, Lake Maquarie then missed, Braedens penalty hit the crossbar and the pressure mounted.

Lakes scored and Zac evened the ledger. Sudden death penalties now began. With Seaton moving on his line, Lakes missed there penalty. Up stepped Connor for a Captains knock and he scored - Singleton into the grand-final. 

Good luck to both teams this Saturday!