The Courier |
SUNBURY bounced back from its loss to North Ballarat City last week with a 43-point victory over Ballarat at Alfredton Oval on Saturday afternoon.
It took until the last quarter for last year’s premiers to stamp their authority on the contest, but a nine-goal last term ensured that they ran out 19.7 (121) to 11.12 (78) winners.
Jay Cheep was superb for the visitors as he controlled the midfield battles, providing many scoring opportunities for Xavier Linton and the like to take advantage of.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Lions, as the Ballarat side stood strongly for three and a half quarters, led by Nick Garner, Daniel Kennedy, and positive forward line performances from Mark Nunn, James Quayle and Chris Proctor.
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After kicking six goals to three in the first term, Sunbury succumbed to some of the strong Ballarat pressure that Ash Baker has placed an emphasis on this year.
Alas, the tables were turned to an extent as the home side was able to kick four goals to two in the second term to only be trailing by three points at the main break.
Some missed opportunities hindered Ballarat in the third term, so much so that at three-quarter time the Swans had enjoyed two more scoring shots than their opposition, but still trailed by three points – the same lead that Sunbury had at the main break.
Nunn and Proctor continued to work tirelessly up forward for the Swans, with Nunn producing arguably his best performance for the season.
It was the Sunbury class, though, that held sway in the last quarter with the likes of Cheep, Tim Hill, Adam Short and Greg Hay stepping up to the plate and ensuring that the Lions finished the game off strongly.
Ballarat coach Ash Baker was disappointed with the finish.
“To finish off like that is really disappointing,” he said.
“We need to continue working on improving our use of the ball and our concentration, and also our ability to tighten up and be accountable when the pressure is on.”
Sunbury captain Jay Cheep said his side placed emphasis on not losing two games in a row.
“We made that a sort of mantra of ours that we would always like to bounce back after a loss, so that was a particular pleasing aspect of the victory,” Cheep said.
“We knew the game would open up in the last quarter, so it was just a matter of making sure that the game opened up our way and, fortunately for us, it did.”
