Geelong Advertiser | Shore playing coach Jason Davenport was left to rue the one that got away after the Seagulls went down by one point to Geelong West-St Peter’s today.
GFL:
The Roosters snatched victory with a goal to Andrew Richardson in time on, after the umpire awarded a controversial holding the man decision much to the ire of North Shore fans.
It was a desperate final few minutes, with West throwing numbers behind the ball to protect its lead. The ball almost found its way through the North Shore behinds at one point, only to just roll out of bounds beside the goalpost.
But the Roosters cleared the area to hold on 15.4 (94) to 13.15 (93).
“The reality is, and we spoke about this after the game, that if we kicked straight it was probably a 40 point win. The shots on goal tell you that but the reality is we didn’t and that is the outcome,” Davenport said after the loss, which leaves the Seagulls in 11th spot with a 1-8 record.
Roosters coach Andy Viola admitted his team was “very lucky” to get the win, which lifts their record to 4-5.
“The negatives were quite obvious. I thought we turned the ball over. We were down with our contested footy in the first half, our tackle count was down. They were obvious things that we think are quite fixable,” Viola said.
“I guess coming off the bye we were a bit scratchy. We put together some good passages of play, but to be honest we couldn’t string a good quarter together and in the end we were very lucky to get away with a win.”
West’s co-captain Chris Moreland returned from a broken wrist to be the star for his team, kicking goals and setting them up with his run, dash and exceptional ball use.
Davenport also played another great game for his team, including a long goal on the run in the last term that put his team back in front.
ST Joseph’s coach Heath Jamieson was not getting carried away with today’s thumping win over Leopold in the top of the table clash.
The Lions were missing some key players, including key forward Lucas Boyd, who withdrew through illness, as well as interleague player Brandon Howarth, and capitulated after half-time against the unbeaten Joeys.
After leading by 11 points at the main change, Jamieson’s team kicked 11 goals to two to win 18.17 (125) to 7.11 (53) and take their season record to 9-0.
“I think we were pretty disappointed with the way we played in the first half,” Jamieson said.
“Leopold’s pressure is always good, they play a high pressure style of game, I jus thought our ball use early was terrible. We weren’t going direct, we probably cleaned that up after half-time.
We’re not going to get carried away with the win over Leopold today. I think they were down a little bit with personnel with a few out injured, but we just want to play a style which we think will keep winning footy games. While we do that we are going to be a pretty good side. I was really pleased with our second half.”
Leopold suffered a further blow with interleague defender Jeremy Larcombe helped from the field in the last term.
COLAC maintained its place in the top three with a gritty one-point win over an injury hit St Albans.
In a low-scoring, contested affair at St Albans Reserve, the Tigers came from behind at three-quarter time to win by a point.
Jake Carmody and Lochie Veale stood tall in final term, turning a five-point deficit into a 14-lead halfway through the quarter.
But the Supersaints rallied, with Kirby Burke and Jase Perkins nailing important goals to give their side a sniff.
Carmody booted the winning behind, handing Colac its sixth win of the season.
“It was one of those games where there was a lot going on,” Lynch said.
“There was one or two rolling back and blokes peeling off stoppages and it came down to the side that lost concentration hardest for two or three minutes.
“Both coaching panels were making decisions all the time, so I thought the players adjusted to it well on the ground and the game ebbed and flowed.”
Colac forced a stoppage-style game on St Albans in a bid to curb the Supersaints flee-footed midfielders.
“For periods of the game they were playing a seven-man forward line and we let them do that and that was causing a lot of that (congestion),” Lynch said.
“In periods we tried to go away from that and we rolled the dice. We wanted busy stoppages because of their pace and we tried to crowd them up around the footy as much as we could and I thought that worked for us today.
“They are extremely quick on the outside, so we wanted repeated stoppages all day.”
Although disappointed with the result, St Albans coach Nick Daffy was pleased with his side’s endeavour.
“We matched them in the contest but we need to get a little bit more smarter going inside 50,” he said.
“Contested ball and inside 50s, we won in those areas but we couldn’t quite finish off. We needed better composure.”
The Supersaints had just two players on the bench after half-time, with Pat Barber straining his hamstring and Riley Ferguson copping a knee to the kidney.
Ferguson went to hospital for a scan.
“So we lost those two early and that didn’t help our rotations. Jesse Smith got a cookie but we had to leave him out on the ground,” Daffy said.
“But Colac are a strong side, they’re the reigning premiers, so we knew it would be a strong contest and realistically it was a good test for us because they’re the best at contested ball and I think we matched it with them.”
In other games, South Barwon powered to a convincing 155-point win over Lara, while Bell Park trounced St Mary’s by 57 points.
BFL:
DRYSDALE coach concedes his side’s finals hopes are all-but dashed after today’s disappointing loss to Modewarre.
The Hawks were left to lament an inaccurate first half, in which they booted nine points and failed to slot a major.
The Warriors led all afternoon and held on for an eight-point win at Mount Moriac Reserve.
Modewarre is seventh, a game outside the top five, while Drysdale is second last and a game and percentage out of the mix.
“That makes it really tough (to make finals),” Fitzgerald said.
“But we’ve just got to hang in there and butter up again next week.
“Our level of effort was pretty good. But in the end they just had that little bit more polish in front of goal that made the difference.
“We kicked nine points before we kicked a goal, it’s pretty hard to win when you do that.”
Modewarre coach Haami Williams was pleased with the victory.
“The guys have been itching for a win there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“The guys are happy, I think it’s reward for all the work they’ve done, they’ve been searching for a good win.
“(We’ve got) Queenscliff now — we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
“I said we want to win the next four (midweek) ... these guys are young and they’ve got to learn that a footy season, if you want to play in grand finals, it’s about 22 weeks.”
Geelong Amateur flexed its muscle with a comfortable win over Ocean Grove.
Ammos piled on six goals to two in the second term, setting up a 38-point victory at Queens Park.
Anglesea trounced a hapless Newcomb by 272 points at Alcoa Oval, Barwon Heads kicked away after half-time to run out 49-point winners over Queenscliff and Torquay blew Portarlington away, winning by 102 points.
GDFL:
INVERLEIGH has kept its winning run in tact, powering home in the last quarter to stun Bannockburn at Victoria Park.
The Tigers led by 20 points at the first chance, 14 points at half-time and by a point at three-quarter time but ran out of gas to lose by three points.
The result meant the Hawks skipped a game and percentage clear of Bannockburn on the ladder.
The Tigers are a game clear of third-placed Bell Post Hill, who took until 15 minutes into the first quarter to blow Werribee Centrals away.
The Panthers banged on five goals in the second quarter and nine goals in the third term to dispose of the Centurions at Galvin Park, winning by 95 points.
In the crucial clash at Jetts Oval, Belmont Lions overcome a sluggish start to down fellow finals hopeful Thomson.
Trailing by 10 points at the first chance, the Lions moved into half-time with a 12-point buffer and were never headed, winning by 31 points.
“It was a very good win. We had a couple of losses in a row and we’ve had a few injuries,” Belmont Lions coach David McKiernan said.
“Last week we had nine more scoring shots that Werribee Centrals, but we also had nine of our best 22 out and that bit of experience cost us.
“We got four key blokes back today and that really helped us.”
The Lions were missing Josh Blair (overseas) and Brent Watkins (shoulder) but welcomed back Ben Vardy, Scott Wakeman, Fraser McCarthy and Daniel Atkinson.
In other matches, Winchelsea recorded its first win of the season, downing Corio by 71 points at Eastern Reserve, Anakie claimed its third win of 2015 with a 33-point victory over Geelong West and North Geelong thrashed East Geelong by 91 points.
