Gippsland Times | AN 11 goal to two second half saw Lindenow run over the top of Paynesville, scoring a 52-point win in the East Gippsland footballfirst semi-final on Sunday.
After a slow start, the Cats finally got the ball rolling in the second half, dominating the back end of the contest to record a 16.11 (107) to 8.7 (55) win.
The Gulls jumped out of the box in the first quarter, kicking five goals for the term to lead by 19 points at the first break.
However, that was as good as it got for Paynesville, who despite leading by six points at half time managed only one goal in each of the last three quarters.
Darren Allen was again the star for the Cats, with the excitement machine continuing his stellar season with five goals in a best-on-ground performance. He was ably-supported by Paul Gould, who kicked three majors, while Brett Hargreaves was also a solid contributor around the ground.
For Paynesville, the loss ended a disappointing season that saw them struggle to find consistency and regularly move in and out of the top four.
Jack Haslam kicked three goals for the Gulls, while Brayden Radford was named their best.
The Cats strong team performance will need to be replicated this weekend when they face a Stratford side desperate to atone for their loss to Wy Yung.
If a place in the grand final didn’t make this weekend’s clash intriguing enough, adding extra interest to the preliminary final will be the history between these two teams from the home and away season.
In their three meetings during the regular season, Lindenow were victorious twice, but on both occasions were assisted by the return of players from Gippsland League club Bairnsdale, whose bye round happened to coincide perfectly.
The Cats won’t have the luxury of those players this weekend, but given their form over the past month will be confident they can cause yet another upset over the Swans.
LUCKNOW was too strong for Wy Yung in the reserves, while the Magpies defeated Paynesville in the under 18s, and Orbost-Snowy Rovers defeated Wy Yung in the under 16s.
EGFNL preliminary finals
Saturday at Bairnsdale City Oval:
Seniors: Stratford v Lindenow, 2.15pm.
Reserves: Stratford v Lucknow, 12.30pm.
Under 18s: Orbost-Snowy Rovers v Lucknow, 10.45am.
Under 16s: Orbost-Snowy Rovers v Paynesville, 9am.
