by Jim Gordon
Only two matches in Mallee Football League this week due to a split round.
Woomelang Lascelles v Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers
An engrossing game all day, the Woomelang Lascelles Cats managed to hold on and win by just five points against the fast finishing Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers at Woomelang on Saturday. This has left the Cats still undefeated and the Tigers somewhat deflated with a second loss in a row after their great first round win against Beulah.
In last week’s loss the Tigers let the Walpeup Underbool Roos kick the first eight goals of match and even though they fought back well, it proved to be too big a lead. This week it was different. Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers kept with the Cats for the first half to go in at the main break only three points down and it was anybody’s game.
The vital third term saw the Cats outscore the Tigers by three goals to one and draw away to a nineteen point lead coming into the final quarter. This was enough to hold out the determined Sea lake Nandaly Tigers and come away with a hard earned, heart stopping five point victory.
Once again Trent Donnan was Woomelang Lascelles’ best. His youth and exuberance saw him running all day to gain many possessions. This week he was joined by brother Joel among the Cats’ best, Jason Kreuger kicked three goals and Jayden Lonergan two to prove their worth up forward.
For Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers Daniel Carmichael, Jeremy Weinhert and Jarrod Alderton were their best and Col Durie once again did all he could to rouse his troops and they very nearly caught the Cats at the end.
The Tiger brigade will bounce back. They have lost two in a row, but could have won on Saturday. Durie has them playing well in patches and once the season is well underway, they should be able to string together match winning periods of play to threaten those they come up against.
Beulah v Hopetoun
In a much anticipated match, the Hopetoun Devils failed to deliver against a Beulah side that has quickly settled down after a surprising first round loss against Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers.
There was no sense of easing off the pressure after last week’s good win against the Demons as the Blues began with a five goal to two first term against Hopetoun. When they followed up with a five goal to three second quarter, it was a somewhat deflated Hopetoun side that trudged off at half time, 33 points in arrears.
Hopetoun had no answer to the domination of the Beulah onballers. Kim Hallam was in control in the ruck and just like last week against the Ouyen United Demons, Hallam’s good work was often finished off by Dale Shannon who was a prolific ball winner not only at the centre bounces, but all around the ground.
To their credit the Devils defence tried hard all day and were often able to match it with the Beulah forwards. But the ball was coming down into the Hopetoun forward line with monotonous regularity and through sheer weight of numbers, the Devils had to crumble as the Blues’ forwards were getting fed consistently all match.
Beulah was relentless in the third term snuffing out any sort of Devil comeback with another five goal term, but this time Hopetoun was goalless and ten goals down by the end of the term. In something of a belated effort, Hopetoun did outscore the Blues in the final term, but it was a case of too little too late as Beulah ran out easy winners by 50 points.
Hopetoun’s Luke Puckle and David Baulch were solid contributors in defence and Leigh Hutchinson showed plenty of leadership in an inspiring effort.
Hopetoun’s in-form forwards did well when given the opportunity, but they were starved of chances due to the domination of the Beulah onballers. Nevertheless Bryce Wellington with four and Kain Robins two goals, were once again the focal points up forward. Luke Milroy and Ruben Vesikuru tried hard all day all around the ground.
In the end Beulah was the more polished side and their experience was too much for the Devils who have some work to do on basic decision making around the packs and delivery around the ground. Maybe the two week break will give them time to work on their skills.
Last Modified on 17/04/2011 15:42