Sat 4th August- In a game that would see the loser effectively eliminated from the finals for 2007, there was much at stake in what was expected to be a tight tussle. With Eltham having won the last 2 meetings between the clubs, the Monty faithful were desperate to get back on the winning track against Eltham and regain the Hines Shield that has been missing for 12 months now.
I had expected a large crowd for this game between the battling neibouring suburbs both wanting a shot at the finals. Eltham so long out of finals now wanting to re estabalish the division 1 heritage and credibility of Eltham teams of the past, against Monty who have been a competition pace setter for the past 6 seasons. The expectation of the large crowd had everyone at Mont excited as we trully expected the Eltham crowd to turn up in numbers to attempt to drown out the Home team advantage so much loved by Monty. Unfortunately the crowd didn't come. Maybe they knew what the result would be, or maybe they all went to see Collingwood vs Carlton, either way from both clubs the attendence was poor.
The crowd build up for the U/19's was good, but then Eltham were always expected to win, so the travellers came to see at least one Eltham team win for the day. Although the game was a 10 goal blow out, the Mont boys certainly did themselves proud in that they kept with Eltham for most of the game and made sure that the win was well and trully earned by the Panthers.
The Reserves had another good win and just gave themselves a tiny bit of breathing room and going a game clear in fourth spot on the ladder. With games against teams higher on the ladder in coming weeks the pressure to win will certainly be felt by Hoffy, especially if I am right in the belief that Hoffy has never been outside the finals since joining the senior club? I will have to ask the old fella if he can remember the last time he had September off.
The Monty senior team went in almost unchanged from last week except for injury to Sebastian Ciavola which allowed for the inclusion of Derryn Stanley in a return from injury. The youngsters in the team, Reinke, Trajanovski, French & Pat Cusack all kept their places and had a chance to establish themselves into the senior team. Eltham was missing Courtot, Bongetti and Contessa, all of whom cut us up in the first meeting of the year.
Much like last week the game started off even. Mont kicked the first through Gutterson who was in the next play yellow carded and forced to have a 15 minute rest. I have no idea what the yellow was for, but the Eltham players certainly gave Gutto a send off that I'm sure they regret now as he came back on and kicked a lazy 5 goals for the game. The next 3 goals of the game were a goal for goal affair with the scores relatively locked at 2 goals a piece. Then the game broke open with goals to Derryn Stanley Brett Hayes, Daniel Keenan and Brent Gutterson. By the end of the quarter Hayes had 3 goals and Gutterson had 2.
It took until about the 6 minute mark of the second quater before a goal was scored, unfortunately for Mont it was from an Eltham boot. Both teams peppered the goals missing gettable goals before "Dizzy" Stanley marked beside the point post and was then felled and given the "free" shot directly in front to get the quarter started for Mont. Eltham quickly replied with another goal and it seemed that it was game on. Then it became the Daniel Sage show as he tore Eltham apart through the centre of the ground scoring a goal with a 60m bomb from the centre bounce and getting so many posessions Eltham thought there was two of him out there. Goals to Gutterson and Dizzy gave Mont a 6 goal buffer and around the ground Mont was dominant. Hayes kicked another 2 goals for the quarter, 5 by half time, not bad for a resting ruckman.
Mont started the third quarter 48 points up and it seemed it was game over and season over already for Eltham. However the fight wasn't quite out of the Panthers just yet and they managed to kick the first goal for the quarter then kick two of the next four in a goal for goal affair. Then the game was blown apart by Mont with 5 unanswered goals, 2 each to Dizzy and Hayes and 1 more to Wayne "Pee Wee" Pavitt. By quarters end Hayes had totalled 3 goals to take his game tally to 8 in a performance that would surely make him best on ground.
With a 72 point lead going into the last quarter the crowd now only seemed interested in if Brett Hayes could get 10 goals. Dizzy and Pee Wee opened the scoring before Eltham scored. Then with the game done and dusted Eltham managed to kick 3 unanswered goals in a spirited fight back, but the game was over. Goals to Fricker, Stanley, Hayes and Gutterson soon squashed the fight out of Eltham as the crowd could now sense both a 100 point win and 10 goals for Hayes. The boys tried hard to get Hayes the 10th and I think Hayes might have felt it a bit as he missed a couple of shots he would have put through earlier in the day. Then in a move that could only be called "uncharacteristic" maybe even "noble" and one that trully got the crowd stirred up and cheering was when Gutterson ran into the goal sqaure for a certain goal, but then handballed off to Hayes who slotted through a snap on his left foot to get that magical 10th goal. With seconds to go in the game Mont were 104 points up only to see the ball marked a split second before the final siren and a goal after the siren by Eltham to reduce the margin to 98 points.
The Ken Hines Shield was returned and it was hard to keep the smile of the coaches faces at least for this week. Although Eltham are now out of the equation, we must keep winning, 2 more wins secures a finals spot with arch rival Greensborough this week who have also got a sniff of finals. In the remaining four games there are no easy wins and every game becomes a final, so make sure you get down to Monty for the final home game of the year next week.
Last Modified on 06/08/2007 10:56