Joeys’ president, Heinrich Haussler, described the match as a good team effort to start the season with three away points, but said the Joeys needed to lift for this week’s game against East Armidale in Inverell.

“Joeys put pressure on the Namoi team from the very beginning, creating chances but not finding the back of the net. Namoi United also had chances but were denied by Joeys Goalkeeper Alex Kovacs,” Heinrich Haussler said.

Some impressive work on the flank and a great cross from Marc Borgas found Jackson Haussler near the posts, and his header into goal put Joeys 1-0 ahead.

Joeys kept the pressure on and were a constantly in the Namoi half. Stephen Gadd played some fine lay-off balls to open up space, and when Amine Lihia sent the ball into the top corner of the net, the Joeys went to a 2-0 lead. 

Joeys’ 3-0 lead came after some impressive defence by Corey Rynne and Trent Irwin in the middle of the pitch, which closed down a lot of Namoi opportunities and finally produced a half-volley for Haussler to send into the net.

“When the teams returned to the field for the second-half it was a slower game, but the Joeys created more chances and spread the Namoi team wide through Rod Prentis and Adrian Gersbach,” Heinrich Haussler said.

After a scrappy own goal that could not be cleared by the Namoi defence, Joeys went up 4-0, and shortly afterwards Namoi counterattacked and managed to score their only goal of the match.

Having fallen foul of off-side rulings on many occasions, it was a somewhat frustrated Haussler who received the ball from Kazu Sakomoto. He was on the edge of the box, and shot from about 15 metres out to sent the ball into the top right hand corner. Haussler then went on to score another goal, his fourth for the day and the Joeys’ sixth for the match. Amine Lihia scored the other two for the Joeys.