By Jonathan B Geddes & Clay Cross

NORTHERN Suburbs five-eighth Matt Minogue took the field five minutes from fulltime in Saturday’s clash with Sydney University – then booted one of the Shute Shield’s great match-winning goals to secure his side a stunning victory.

In an extraordinary finish to the game at North Sydney Oval, Minogue kicked a penalty goal from inside Norths’ half in the 83rd minute to hand Norths a 32-30 win – in what could prove to be a crucial result come finals time.

After the ball sailed through the posts, Minogue was mobbed by teammates an  Norths reserves celebrating his stunning feat in the pressure-cooker situation. Such was the level of excitement, you could have been excused for thinking it was actually Kylie Minogue on the field.

Amidst the euphoria, a cool and collected Minogue told Rugby News he was always confident that he could land the shot from 52m out on the angle.    

 “You practice for these moments when boys are yelling at training and you just wait for the opportunity to one day step up,”  he said. “You’ve got to nail your role.”

‘BACK ME’

MINOGUE took the kick after speaking to skipper and halfback Seamus Smith when Norths were awarded the penalty.

“Seamus came straight to me and he said ‘have you got it’ and I said ‘yep,  back me’, and it went from there,” he revealed.

“I know all my distances and at the end of the day it just comes down to connection and judging the wind right.”

When he saw the kick was successful, Minogue allowed himself to savour the momentous  moment – a moment most players will only ever dream about.

“It was awesome, when you have 14 players with their eyes on you wanting to celebrate and then you have all the bench running in, it was a pretty surreal feeling,” he admitted.

As he watched the situation unfold from the sideline, Norths coach Zak Beer was also confident that Minogue could kick that  penalty.

“That is an asset of his and we always back our guys,” Beer said. 

“We play to win at Norths and he rolled the dice to have a shot.

“He’s very calm and that’s what you want in a 10.”

A LONG WAY TO GO

BEER said it took a team effort to help secure what was a memorable victory and a reward for the hours the players put in at training.

“It was the 82^nd minute, we were in the red (zone) and we fought to hold them out,” he said. 

“We got the ball back off a drop out, found a way to work our way 30m upfield and put ourselves in a position to win that game.

“We still have a long way to go as a team but we are getting there every week.”     

It was fitting that the match went down to the wire as University just refused to go away and the momentum continually swung from one team to the other.

“It was hard, I don’t think we hit our mark too much all game, so I think that is half of what we can actually do,” Minogue said. “We’ve just got to start clicking and nailing  all our roles.”

Minogue linked up with Norths from Eastwood this season after moving house into the area and speaking with Beer. And what an acquisition he is turning out to be.

“Zak told me about being a big family club,” he said. “It is five minutes from training and I love it, I’m here to stay.”

Norths now sit in sixth spot on the ladder and this Saturday they play third-placed Warringah at Rat Park while University takes on Eastwood at TG Millner Field.