By Richard Jones

 

GOLDEN Square took until the last quarter of Saturday’s match at the Camp Reserve to shake off a tenacious and hard-tackling Castlemaine.

 

After a stuttering start the Bulldogs trailed by 10 points at half-time and had sneaked away to a less than impressive five-point lead by the last change.

 

As a warm-up for this weekend’s cut-throat elimination final, Square’s Round 18 performance must be left in the archives.

 

The Bulldogs won’t be able to afford a three-goal first half on Sunday against South Bendigo. Three goals was all the Dogs could muster against the Magpies on Saturday.

 

Playing Jason Griffin at full-forward didn’t work and had it not been for the relentless running and hard work of Jason Curtain, Stacy Fiske and Chris Kent Golden Square would have been further adrift by half-time.

 

Attacking the scoreboard end on a warm spring afternoon, the Magpies answered Fiske’s opening goal with three of their own.

 

Adam Culvenor, Daniel Christmas and late replacement Brett Cole booted majors to give the home side a handy 10-point lead at quarter-time.

 

However, the Magpies had suffered a blow when tap ruckman Luke Walters was sidelined for a lengthy period after an accidental head clash with Hamish Dahl.

 

Kicking to the pavilion end (which hadn’t been the scoring end in either of the curtain raisers) the Magpies still managed two goals.

 

Magpie small man Jimmy Gale floated a wobbly kick over outstretched hands for a Magpie goal while Nick McDonald toe-poked through a grubber with 35 seconds left on the clock.

 

In between Square’s Darren Walsh and skipper Christian Carter scored goals with Carter’s major capping off lead-up work from Adrian McErvale and James Walsh.

 

Golden Square stayed in touch in the third term as key forward Luke Rosa warmed to his work. He took some strong marks at centre half-forward and kicked a goal following a scuffle with Lachlan Maltby.

 

Skipper Chris Jardine and Calvin Philp combined to land the ball with retiring coach Ian Martin for a Magpie major. Walters, back on the field after treatment, scored an easy major courtesy of a 50 metre penalty.

 

Goals to Fiske and Mark Adamson left the Bulldogs with a slender five-point lead. Needing a vastly improved showing in the last term Carter (three goals), Rosa and Kent led the way for the Dogs as they added a much-needed 5.7 to the Maine’s 1.1.

 

Golden Square coach Jeff Brennan said his side’s “first half was terrible – Castlemaine was strong at the footy and they controlled the game.

 

“What we dished up wasn’t acceptable after a good three quarters last week. But after a decent bake at half-time we managed to get back on the horse.”

 

Brennan said an extra day’s grace going into this weekend’s elimination final against South wasn’t overly significant. “Still, Matty O’Toole and Jake Hall will be back but we’ve lost (full-back) Anthony Holdstock for the season with a fracture in his ankle bone following the game against Gisborne last week.”

 

Ian Martin, after his last game as Castlemaine’s senior coach, said his farewell match wasn’t quite as gut-wrenching as he’d thought it might be.

 

“And in the final seven or eight minutes of the game we’d run out of legs and they scored a few goals.

 

“Having said that there’s some fine, young players at the Castlemaine Football Club and the next coach who comes along will inherit a good start.”

 

GOLDEN SQUARE      1.3         3.6          7.10           12.17 (89)

CASTLEMAINE           3.1         5.4          7.5                8.6 (54)

 

GOALS – Golden Square: Christian Carter 4, Chris Kent 2, Stacy Fiske 2, Mark Adamson, Jason Griffin, Darren Walsh, Luke Rose. Castlemaine: Ian Martin, Adam Culvenor, James O’Brien, Nick McDonald, Luke Walters, Daniel Christmas, Brett Cole, James Gale.

BEST – Golden Square: Stacy Fiske, Chris Kent, Jason Curtain, Luke Rosa, Darren Walsh, Lachlan O’Toole. Castlemaine: Chris Jardine, Shaun Burchell, Lachlan Brown, James O’Brien, Matthew Hodoras, Lachlan Ford.