Gippsland Times | A MORE formidable Sale side overcame Gippsland League finals aspirant Drouin with a decisive 51-point win.
At the half-way mark of the season, the 18.13 (121) to 10.10 (70) win puts the Magpies back in contention for a finals berth.
A big crowd was treated to a high standard game of football played in good spirit, in good conditions, well umpired, and with plenty of highlights featuring sustained pace and big marks.
The Magpies finished strongly worked hard all day and fully deserved their big win.
The match was seen as a danger game for Sale, which was expecting a much closer contest. However, the Magpies led all day and were dominant in the second half, kicking 10 goals to five.
Sale had nine individual goal kickers as every player made a contribution towards the win.
With seven changes to the side, the inclusion of tall players Jake Thomas, Jack Lipman, and coach Travis Ronaldson (playing his first game for the Magpies), height proved to be the difference between the two sides. This trio plus centre half-forward John Gooch, kicked seven goals between them, all resulted from towering marks in front of goal, providing a big headache for the opposition.
Another to play his first senior game for Sale was under 16s captain Will Stephenson, who chipped in with three valuable goals.
Sale's smaller brigade played with more enthusiasm and was much faster with the pacey winger Jordan Dowsett prominent.
Play see-sawed from one end of the ground to the other as the inside 50s were slightly in Sale's favour, an indication of the evenness of the game. However, Drouin was unable to convert its entries on to scoreboard pressure.
The further the game went, the further the Magpies increased their lead.
Sale won the centre clearances and shared the stoppages, but it was the classy midfielders Kane Martin and Tom Hams who were instrumental in ensuring the Magpies got reward for effort.
The reliable Sale defence was again cool under pressure and kept Drouin to 10 goals.
Hawks full forward Ben Hughes kicked three goals from strong marks and Bob McCallum and Daniel Nicholls, who added two goals each, offered good support, but the Hawks needed more effort up forward.
The home side was also well-served by the consistent Luke Duffy and David Olsen, who produced four quarters of solid football.
The stage is now set for the forthcoming match against Maffra to be a fascinating contest.
MOE has gone from a season high to a season low in the space of a week, conceding a big lead to go down to Bairnsdale 17.10 (112) to 16.10 (106).
Fresh from a confidence-boosting win over Sale, the Lions picked up where they left off, booting five goals to one in the first quarter to lead the Redlegs by 26 points.
Trailing by as much as 39 points during the second term, Bairnsdale clawed its way back into the contest to get within 20 points at half-time.
In one of its best performances of the year so far, the Redlegs fought back into the contest to lead by one point at three-quarter-time.
However Moe once again got the jump in the last to lead by 17 points before the Redlegs kicked five goals to four to steal the win.
Jacob Green kicked three majors for the Redlegs with Cameron Streeter best-on-ground.
For Moe, Adrian Burgiel and Mark Engley kicked four goals apiece, while James Blaser booted three.
