Legendary American sport coach Vince Lombardi once said, ‘ We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time’.
That seemed to be the case at Leitch Oval on Saturday afternoon, when the Narrabri Eagles clawed their way back into contention against the competition leaders, Tamworth Kangaroos.
The local side put three back-to-back goals together late in the fourth quarter to close the gap between the two sides to just two goals.
However despite the turn-around in momentum the side was beaten by the clock, as the Tamworth side whittled the remaining minutes to shut down any chance of a potential upset.
The visitors ensured they would be travelling back home on top of the ladder with a four-goal triumph at 11.16.82 to 15.18.108.
“We knew if we kept them to 20-odd points going into the last quarter we were in with a chance,” said co-captain Michael Leven.
“Having the wind behind us and home support we gave it a red-hot crack.”
The Eagles slow start allowed the Roos to take the game away from the home side, propelling out to a 25-point lead.
They held onto that buffer for the majority of the contest, leaving the Eagles to play catch-up.
The visitors came out firing after the half-time break, building on its three goals to six advantage.
“Our forwards were good in getting us back into the game,” said the skipper.
“We started winning a lot more of the 50/50 contests.”
Todd Fagan and player-coach Todd Dunn showed their attacking qualities as they slotted crucial goals.
Dunn was again the side’s top scorer on the day, as he kicked four goals.
Fagan grabbed two goals, along with Zac Lauritsen (2), Michael Miskle (2) and reliable new ruckman Andrew Weymer.
Although losing Saturday’s first home match of the season, the Narrabri side kept their heads high following the strong finish to the match.
“There was plenty of good signs of improvement and even some of the Roos players said that it was the toughest match they had played this year,” Leven said.
“Teams like Tamworth, Inverell and Armidale are seasoned teams, with a lot of their guys playing together for years.”
Young gun Lauritsen joined forward Fagan and the versatile Miskle, with Tom Denyer and Shane Murphy as best on ground for the side.
Co-captain Matt McDonnell
headlined the team’s injury list coming out of Saturday’s loss.
He has been ruled out for next weekend’s clash with the Inverell Saints at Leitch Oval at 2pm.
Source: The Courier 6th May 2015