North Midlands beat Onshore to avoid wooden spoon in tough country championship

The North Midlands Football League struggled at times but did come away with one victory to its name as they finished in sixth place in division 3 at country week.

They faced a great unknown in their first game against North Pilbara who were entering their first side in the competition in more than three decades.

But they showed no signs of rustiness dominating North Midlands with five unanswered goals in the first half while NMFL was held to just a single behind.

The second half was better with Len Papertalk scoring their first goal but four more behinds was not going to help as they went down 8.6 (54) to 1.5 (11).

They next faced Hills Football Association but were on the end of an even bigger loss as Jackson Ryan kicked five goals in a 10.1 (61) to 2.5 (17) loss.

Papertalk scored both goals for North Midlands as a second straight loss left them out of finals contention.

However, they would turn it around on Saturday as they got their first win over Onshore Cup who were returning for the first time since 2005, 6.5 (41) to 4.0 (24).

Atem Deng led the way with three goals as Onshore was kept to one goal in the first half.

While the second half was a more even contest as Onshore threatened a comeback but North Midlands kicked away late to seal the victory.

“I’ve worked on my kicking over the years and it’s one of my best attributes,” Deng said.

“It was good to get the win with the boys we definitely deserved it.”

They faced a tough send-off against the undefeated Esperance and they were kept scoreless in the first half as Esperance jumped to a four-goal lead.

Tim Steele got one back in the second half but they were once again outclassed 7.7 (49) to 1.4 (10).

While no one made the combined All-Star squad Aiden D’Souza and Bob Shearer were the best performers with three best-player nominations from four games.