The Courier |
SUNBURY survived a kick after the siren to continue its unbeaten start to the Ballarat Football League season at Darley's expense on Saturday night.
Harley Inglis put his shot from about 45 metres wide to the left after the final siren to leave Sunbury standing 11.4 (70) to 9.14 (68) victors.
But it should not have come down to an all-or-nothing kick for Inglis as three of his teammates missed gilt-edged chances in a gripping last eight minutes of action.
Sunbury's class in slippery conditions built what would prove to be its match-winning lead, getting out to a 12-point advantage at the 15-minute mark. The Lions enjoyed the advantage of scoreboard pressure for much of the night, with Darley's spells in the lead brief enough to leave the Devils feeling like they were always chasing the game.
Simon Clarke was Darley's main headache, kicking five goals, the fifth a brilliant dribbling effort from close range 10 minutes into the last quarter after ducking and weaving away from his man, Sam Hitchings.
Jake Edwards (three goals) put Darley within a kick on 19 minutes when he converted a 30-metre set shot from in front.
But Darley then missed three highly possible goals, with Edwards, Dane Grenfell and Brett O'Bree all off target.
But a minute later, when Edwards won a free kick 40 metres out in front for holding the ball, he missed to the right rather than level the scores.
Sunbury made a venture into its attacking 50 metres to try for a sealing goal but Darley swept the ball off the last line of defence after a mad scramble and series of kicks off the ground.
In the last passage of play, Inglis marked a long, hopeful kick from the wing and was at the top of his run-up when the siren went.
Sunbury chaired Scott Lobb off the ground, a winner in his 200th game.
Darley coach Rod MacPherson was devastated with the defeat.
"That's a fork in the road for the season. If that doesn't burn in their guts ... it's easy to be emotional after a game but that's as agonising a loss as I've been involved with in a long time," MacPherson said.
"We burnt 15 forward entries in that last quarter. I thought for large sections we controlled the game and we didn't have the polish, composure and calmness to get it done.
"Some of our young players missed but also some of our experienced players and cooler heads who should have been able to finish."
Sunbury coach Rick Horwood asked his players to come to training tomorrow with a self-assessment of their performance from the match.
"It's great to win for Scott Lobb in his 200th game," Horwood said.
"There was fatigue, we've been slowly building and we're probably not as up-and-running as much as we were in previous seasons."