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Logo Maryborough1MARYBOROUGH virtually wrapped up a berth in the 1995 BFL finals series with a courageous all-the-way win over Sandhurst in the penultimate 17th round.

The Magpies' five-point victory shut the gate on other finals' aspirants Castlemaine and Golden Square, barring shock upsets in the 18th and final home-and-away round.
Maryborough had garnered 36 premiership points and had a percentage of 131.40.

They were drawn to play 8th-placed Northern United (5 wins—12 losses) at Princes Park in the season's final round.
Sixth-placed Castlemaine had 34 points (one draw with Kang. Flat included in their total) and a percentage of 108.57. They were drawn to play away to second-placed Kyneton in the last game.

In seventh position lay Golden Square with 32 points and a percentage of 117.59. The Dogs were drawn to play cellar dweller North Bendigo at Wade Street, but even assuming a massive percentage builder seemed destined to fall one clear game shy of fifth spot. And thus miss a 1995 elimination final berth.

The massive goal-kicking feats of the BFL's top sharpshooters continued in August '95.

Following on from David Lancaster's 22-goal haul in round 16, Castlemaine coach and spearhead Steven Oliver bagged 13 goals against Eaglehawk.

Nevertheless Lancaster moved past 100 goals for the year with eight sausage rolls in a Roos' side well beaten by Golden Square. Those eight goals gave him 103 for the year.

South's David Nicholas also bagged eight majors. He landed his at Raywood against Northern United and moved past Hurst's Matthew Sexton to snatch second spot on the table behind Lancaster. The Swallows' Gavin Exell bagged three.

Leading goalkickers with one round to go --- 103: David Lancaster (KF). 78: David Nicholas (SB). 77: Matthew Sexton (Sh). 75: Steven Oliver (Cm). 71: Gavin Exell (NU).

INACCURACY in front of goal in the second stanza almost cost Maryborough its winning chance against Sandhurst at the QEO.
Leading by one, straight kick at the first change the Princes Park Pies frittered away numerous scoring chances by repeatedly driving the ball wide and thereby placing their forwards on difficult angles.

In the end a return of 2.7 for the second term --- after they'd locked the ball in their front half for most of the term --- was costly for the visitors.

The Dragons fought back in the third quarter with Steve Robinson booting three of his six goals for the day.
With Brendan O'Brien, Frank Coghlan, Robinson and Scott Baxter supplying the run and carry, Robinson was able to cap off Hurst's good work.

By the final change Maryborough's 17-point half-time buffer had been reduced to four points.

Still, the experience of Gordon Sumner, Peter Mark, Jamie Bond and Geoff MacIlwain proved invaluable in the tense final term.
Sandhurst found the ball constricted in their back half for the concluding 12 minutes of the match and were barely able to pass centrefield.

The Pies marginally outscored the Dragons, 1.4 to 1.3, thanks to Richard Peart who had been moved into attack.
The big Magpie marked on his chest in the city end goal square to steer home Maryborough's winning goal.

MICHAEL Nihill reported in for the Advertiser from the Camp Reserve where Castlemaine slaughtered Eaglehawk by a massive 152 points.

Apart from Oliver's 13 goals --- he had half-a-dozen by the main break --- forward pocket Brett Fitzpatrick (now the Dragons' senior coach) and centre half-forward Stuart Annand hammered home six goals apiece on the day.
At the long break the Maine led 18.9 to 5.4.
Hawk defender Danny O'Shannessy was faced with a massive challenge. As if minding Oliver wasn't hard enough, he occasionally had to stand Annand.

Oliver hammered home another five goals in the third term to move into double figures, but he couldn't have done it without the constant supply from ruckman Mark Oxley, centreman Lachie Brown, speedy winger Jamie Allan and rebounding half-back Nick Churchill.

Peter Mercuri was the leading in-and-under player on the park.
New player Cameron Kennedy held Eaglehawk's dangerous forward Tim Dingfelder as the Pies registered 57 scoring shots.
At Raywood the Bloods held the Swallows to just four goals for the afternoon, although the inaccurate home side did manage to tally 20 scoring shots.

Advertiser reporter Nathan Dole said the win emphasised South Bendigo's depth of talent.

"Minus five premiership players the Bloods put its depth on display by thrashing United by 132 points," he wrote.
Apart from the eight majors driven home by Nicholas, coach Peter Curran landed six and Phil Hetherington four in South's 25-goal total.

Deon Marks, Marc Nulty, Shaun Leech and Stephen Ralph were all out of the South side while ruckman Brad Day was a late withdrawal on match day through injury.

Had United's other forwards followed Simon Rudd's straight kicking example, the Swallows might have been closer at the first change.

As it was, they trailed 1.5 to 6.5. South Bendigo then added a massive 10.2 in the second term to end the match as a contest.

GOLDEN Square confounded the tipsters with a 28-point win over Kangaroo Flat in a high-scoring shootout at Dower Park.
On a day when 37 goals were scored, the Bulldogs led at every change and withstood a last quarter surge of 5.7 from the Roos.
Advertiser writer Lachie McKinnon noted that in the hot conditions the Bulldogs played the more desperate brand of footy.

"That was personified in the third quarter by Square's Darren Moorhead. After copping a suspected broken jaw Moorhead coolly slotted a goal to hurt the Roo hopes," he wrote.
Paul McConville and Travis Brown were on top in defence for the Dogs, with 1994 Michelsen medallist Derek Percival in charge of the midfield.

Steve Heincke booted five goals and Quentin Blackmore three. Lancaster was the Roos' shining hope in attack with eight majors as Noel Shelton, Troy Rodda and Scott Tully worked hard for the Green and Whites.

PETER Harrick watched eventual premiers Kyneton boot an astounding 12.9 to 1.3 in the third term of their clash against North Bendigo.

Coach Derrick Filo had called for a big effort and from a lead of just five goals at the main break, the Tigers blew out the margin to 111 points with a quarter to play.

Best afield Tony Kelly and Paul Cochrane booted five goals each with Simon Elsum and Nick Heath adding three each.
Cochrane was a tad wasteful, however, finishing with 5.7. Nonetheless, the Tigers still racked up an amazing 62 scoring shots.

North's best was former Kyneton player Gerard Goodyear, although young full-back Barry Prigg impressed with his strong marking.

Prigg had plenty of work to do as Kyneton bombarded the goal mouths at both ends. In the last quarter alone the Tigers registered 6.11.

Final scores
Maryborough 10.18 (78) def. Sandhurst 10.13 (73)
South Bendigo 26.16 (172) def. Nthn. United 4.16 (40)
G. Square 21.18 (144) def. Kangaroo Flat 16.20 (116)
Kyneton 26.36 (192) def. North Bendigo 6.7 (43)
Castlemaine 34.23 (227) def. Eaglehawk 11.9 (75)
Ladder: South Bendigo 16 wins-1 loss, 64 premiership points; Kyneton 14-3, 56; Sandhurst 12-5, 48; Kangaroo Flat 10-6-and 1 draw, 42; and Maryborough 9-8, 36.
Outside the Five: Castlemaine 8-8-and 1 draw, 34; Golden Square 8-9, 32; Northern United 5-12, 20; Eaglehawk 2-15, 8; North Bendigo 0-17, 0 prem. points.

Richard's tips for Round 16: Kyneton by 5 points, Strath Storm by 67, Sandhurst by 13, Golden Square by 30 and on Sunday South by 9.
2014 season total: 63.

By Ricahrd Jones