Norwood hosted Montrose in a must win rd 8 game at Mullum Reserve, looking for their 2nd win and a move away from the relegation zone. Kicking to the Mullum Rd end we got off to the perfect start, with star full-forward Leigh Williams celebrating his return from injury after missing 4 matches with a goal inside two minutes after good work up field from skipper Holmer. Leroy read it best and doubled back towards goal, gathered and banged it through from point blank range. Early on we were the more dominant side, with big Blake "Lumberjack" Charles controlling the rucks, and as such the ball spent long periods in our forward line. We were unable to exact proper return on this domination however, and returned just one more goal for the quarter courtesy of an excellent front and centre from Matty Jessop. At QT we led 2.3 - 1.2. 7 minutes into the 2nd quarter Fingers produced an excellent clearance from the wing and delivered to true CHF where Leroy led out and mark. His attempt at a long bomb failed badly, but worked brilliantly as it skewed 35m to Matt Jessop who reaped the rewards of playing in front, marked and converted. Montrose replied immediately, but yet again, we proceeded to dominate the game without gaining the proceeds, Gouldy goalled from a free but we could add no more majors, squandering opportunities with points. With two of their only forays forward, Montrose goalled both times so that at half time we led by just 4 points. 4.6 - 4.2. We attacked early in the 3rd but managed just 3 points when we should have scored more. Unsurprisingly, Montrose punished us again with a goal from one of their rare forward sorties. The game was changing as Montrose took ascendency with more clever use of the ball, another goal saw them lead for the first time in the day. We replied with a great clearance from Holmer which saw Gibbo apply great pressure on the Montrose defender running back towards goal. The ball spilled to Bater who ran in and dished sideways to Gibbo who had followed up nicely for an easy and much needed goal which levelled the scores. At the 21m mark "Pappa Giu"Ceppi centred neatly for Leroy to lead out and mark, his goal giving us back the lead by 6 points. At 3/4T the lead was 7pts, 6.10 - 6.3, but on balance of pay it should have been much more. Coach Knighter implored his players with "Its there for us to win" if we wanted it enough For 5 minutes there was no score, this was going to be a long quarter, especially when Montrose scrambled the first goal to bring them within just a solitary point. After a further 6 minutes of scoreless footy Ace won a contest on the wing, broke a tackle and kicked forward where Pat Weardon roved, weaved onto his left and spotted Leroy doubling back for a mark in the goal square and vital goal as we led again by 7 points. The clock ticked ever so slowly to the 19 minute mark with just a point to us added, when Montrose roved inside f50 from a high ball and goalled to make it a 2 point game. We attacked again for Leroy to gather and dish to Weardon, his handball found Stewart in the goal square for what appeared the sealer, only for Stewarts rushed kick to hit the goal umpire as he straddled the goal line. The ball stopped dead and was rushed through for a point. Surely this piece of bad luck could not cost us the game??? Weardon missed narrowly with a snap which would also have sealed it. Montrose had one last surge forward, but a timely mark from Pearso at half-back stemmed the attack, and 30 seconds later the siren sounded to the relief of all Norwood fans. We had saluted for our 2nd win, 7.13.55 - 8.3.51. Again we were led from the front by the remarkably consistent Hilly and Holmer, while Matt Jessop, Blake Charles Michael Pearson Justin Clarke and Michael Wright all turned in ripping games. Leroy with 3 goals was not outstanding, but his presence straightens us up and gives us a much needed target forward. The win pushes us up to 9th on the ladder, a game and percentage from the bottom placed Knox who we meet this week at Knox Reserve in another 'must win' game. A win in this game can see us turn our sights upwards toward the top 5 on the leader rather than looking down towards the bottom. In other games the development squad have moved to into 5th spot in place of Montrose after defeating them, while the U19s hold down 4th spot with a 5-2 record after their win. Most pleasingly, the club has recored its first "Wooders Day" for the year with all teams saluting. Lets hope there's another one next week.
Last Modified on 07/06/2016 13:59