It was back to terra firma for the Bayside Bombers as they were no match for the Aspley Hornets in their AFLQ Masters round 3 game at Aspley on Saturday night.
With a heavy dew on the field, and with last weeks BOG Scotty Houston a last minute withdrawal, the Bombers won the toss and with ex Aspley journeyman George Del Toro opened the scoring for the away side, but there would be not much more to cheer about as the home sides game plan of chip and run had the Bombers on the back foot. With both sides attacking and defending valiantly in the first half, the scoreboard attendant could have dozed off as neither side managed to ascertain scoring dominance in what would become a battle of the backlines. Aspley up by 12 point at the long break.
Bomber Coach Russell Crowe emphasized his displeasure with the Baysiders inability to act on the game plan and made structural changes to the spine to bring his big game players into the fray. The Hornets stuck to there possession game frustrating the Bombers into making disposal errors causing turnovers and creating too many loose Aspley midfielders causing the Bombers defence headache after headache as Gomez Buckley (in his first game), Kyle Matthews and Skipper Magher tried to repel the Aspley forward thrusts, while at the other end, the Bombers forwards struggled to score as the Aspey defence also held firm. The Bombers weredealt a major blow when they lost key onballer Kim dry with a suspected medial ligament strain. Aspley extended their lead to 15 points at the orange break.
The last quarter saw Magher,Jason March (1 goal) and Sheldon Cooper all moved into the middle with Penguin Graves onto in the ruck, the Bombers were going to finish strong with only needing 3 goals to regain the lead. The Hornets had other ideas and were awake to the Bay boys game plan and flooded their defence strangling the attack that the Bombers wanted to enforce. With all bar 6 players in the Bomber forward zone, a few unfortunate turnovers saw the Hornets go coast to coast to kick the last 2 goals for the quarter to run out 28 point winners.
“Lost opportunities, basic errors, unable to execute the game plan, lazy and a better side on the night were the reason we were beaten” Crowe said after the game, “kicking 4 goals is never going to win you a game of footy.We have next week to look forward too and definitely leave this effort behind us”
Scores Bayside 4-7-31 were defeated by Aspley 9-5-59 Goals del Toro 2, March 1, Hudgson 1, Best Taylor, Graves, Rennie, del Toro, Rander.
Next game Vs. Robina at Burleigh Heads Sunday 19th May.
Last Modified on 08/05/2013 21:45