Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the darkest day of the year, this description well and truly described what transpired at Roarcon Stadium today. With overnight rain and the renovations the mud and mess at newly dubbed “deconstruction stadium” was everywhere. The one shining light was the condition of the playing surface as the grassless ground held up well.
The U/19 game was competitive compared to the season opener against Bundoora. Mont was well in the game at three quarter time with Peter Moore inspirational in defence. Unfortunately the class of Bundoora had them run over Mont in the last quarter. The boys can learn and take heart from the game, and watch out Heidelberg next week.
The reserve team had its work cut out against an inspired Bundoora that wanted to be the first team to knock off Hoffy’s men. The first half was tight with a 6 goal to 3 half time score line in Mont’s favour. Whatever Hoffy said at half time must have been inspirational as the third quarter saw 8 goals slammed home to kill the game off. In the end it was a 10 goals win and the Hoffy machine just keeps rolling on.
The senior game started in almost complete darkness, so much so that the training lights were turned on during the second quarter. The day was truly deary and the play matched the weather perfectly. It must be hard to win every week, as a player to be able to lift psychologically and have that win at all costs attitude must be difficult, and today seemed that everyone was “down” on normal spirit.
The game started with skill errors from both teams that kept the ball rebounding around the centre and around the boundary lines. It took more than five minutes for any score, and when that came, again it was a skill error that allowed Whitnall to mark and goal for Bundoora. Mont managed to hit back immediately, but not before hearts were in the mouths as Daniel King passed to Daniel Keenan in a four on one contest. Bomber was better than his four opponents and marked strongly and converted a long goal to square the ledger.
Both teams missed shots on goal that on any other day would have been goals. The skill errors kept coming till finally Mont ran the ball from a Brent Gutterson kick in that ended in Daniel Sage’s hands from a well placed Matt Neill handball that released Sagey to goal from 50 meters. More than half the quarter was gone and there had only been 3 goals scored.
Mont finally kicked into gear and the game changed in a two minute period. First Jarrod McGough ran at the wave of Bundoora players that had control of the ball and caused a sensational turnover that allowed him to kick to an unattended Brett Hayes. Hayes goaled the game seemed to lift. A minute later a defensive error from Bundoora gave Sage a shot 35 meters out from the boundary. Distance was not a worry for Sage and accuracy proved no hurdle as Mont’s next goal and the last scoring shot for the quarter came to give them a 19 points lead.
Mont 4 4 28 Bundoora 1 3 9
The second quarter saw Mont score a goal through Jonathon Byron from the opening bounce and things were well on track for a Mont win. This goal seemed to awaken Bundoora and a spark was ignited in the Bundoora game plan. Within two minutes Bundoora had scored 2 goals to close the gap to 12 points and new voice came from the small Bundoora support crowd. Bundoora kept attacking but couldn’t convert until Whitnall again marked strongly and goaled to reduce the margin to 4 points. Mont steadied when Hayes again marked on a long lead and put through a much needed goal to bring the margin back out to 9 points. A minute later Wayne Pavitt received a rare free kick in the forward line and his goal had Mont 15 points in front.
Bundoora didn’t have many outstanding players, but 18 (Rodgers) was marking everything in sight as was proving a hard match up. He capped off a great mark and play on with a running goal to keep Bundoora well and truly in the game. A few minutes later 20 (Shaw) kicked what can only be called a miracle goal to reduce the Mont lead to 2 points. The only saving grace for Mont was that if Bundoora was going to rely on miracle goals it wasn’t going to win the day. With five minutes to go in the quarter Bundoora kicked another goal in a period of complete domination that finally gave them a four points lead and worry to the Mont supporters at the game.
When the chips are down, the champions have the opportunity to show their wares. This was the case when Gutterson marked a Bundoora clearance then passed to Joffa Byron who dominated the air to out mark his opponent, the subsequent goal regained the lead for Mont. With a minute to go in the quarter Pavitt swooped on the loose ball, broke a tackle, faked a handball sending his opponent the wrong way and opening a clear path at goal which he slammed home to give Mont an eight point lead at half time.
Mont 9 4 58 Bundoora 7 8 50
If Mont was going to win, then the players had to lift out of the funk they found themselves in. The disposals were lazy and choices at times needed questioning and the hope was the half time rev up from Jack would inspire a better effort. Unfortunately the game didn’t live up to expectation, as the game, like the first quarter was a stalemate of error riddled play. It took more than eight minutes for a goal, and like the first quarter, it was Bundoora that struck first. The margin was now 4 points.
Daniel King was one of the best Mont players over first half and he continued to give the Mont on ballers first option on the ball. From the ruck after the Bundoora goal, his pin point tap created a training drill that ended in the safe hands of Byron who put through the answering goal to lift the Mont crowd. Bundoora however were not to be denied, they kept pressuring the Mont onballers creating skill errors and turnovers that prevented Mont from dominating them. The pressure was rewarded with a goal and the margin was back to 4 points.
With less than ten minutes left in the quarter neither team had given their supporters much to cheer about. For a game that was close on the scoreboard there just didn’t seem to be any tension in the crowd, just disbelief that two teams in the top four could play so poorly. The game finally came to life when Pavitt was thrown to the ground when he didn’t have the ball right in front of the “Mont” crowd at the canteen end of the ground. Pavitt was deep in the pocket when undisciplined play from Bundoora gave the umpire no option but to send Pee Wee to the goal square and put through one of the easiest goals of his playing days and the margin was back out to 9 points.
A few minutes later it seemed the Mont back line had had enough of the lack of scoring and took it upon themselves to put a spark in the game. Ambrose Swindon chased the ball down forward and advantage played on from a Derryn Stanley free kick to handball to Benn Finnan who put though a rare goal and the margin was 14 points with two minutes left on the clock. Pavitt again pleased the Mont crowd as he outplayed two opponents to snap a wonderful goal to the cheers of “Wayne!” from the Mont faithful. The siren blew with Mont 21 points in front.
Mont 13 9 87 Bundoora 9 12 66
Bundoora was still in the game and the first goal of the last quarter would be vital. It was 4 minutes into the quarter when Patrick Fitzgerald took a spectacular and strong mark. He deserved a goal, and his kicking didn’t let him down as Mont increased the lead to 27 points. Bundoora hit back with 2 goals in a minute and suddenly it was game back on as the lead was reduced to 15 points. Five minutes later Stanley turned his opponent and sucked the defenders into thinking he was going to have a shot on goal. The defenders ran at him allowing Stanley to handball to a free Mark McGough who ran into an open goal to restore a 21 points lead. A minute later Stanley was felled in a marking contest and had the set shot for another Mont goal. Bundoora got a late goal when a short pass from full back missed it’s target gifting Bundoora an easy goal, but it was game over, Mont had won ugly, but a win is a win, and we now take on a spirited Heidelberg at Heidelberg.
Mont 16 12 108 Bundoora 12 15 87
Last Modified on 23/06/2008 23:43