A PENINSULA TOUR
When Quonny said on Thursday night that we were leaving straight after training for the game down at Mt Eliza for 10am, we were amused. After the game we felt sorry for the boys who played after us from Banyule who had twice the distance to travel! They probably made a weekend of it!
Without doubt the highlight of the day was the tense victory by the seniors later in the day which meant our quest to stay in B Grade remains alive!
Yes, we had a lacklustre game played in windy conditions where the Pirates for three quarters forced us to counter their style of footy which focused on random kicks forward to a couple of big marking forwards who did some damage on the scoreboard. What a slog it was and it also revealed some of the weaknesses in our game plan. The going was tough and some of our players weren?t in an under as they had been in previous weeks. With Russ and Tom carrying injuries (inflicted by Bentleigh) and Britts and Hobes suffering injuries (self inflicted at the school ball) it wasn?t surprising that at three quarter time POBs were still in the game.
Until that time it was some hard work by our backs and the run of Brendan and Benny Clarke through the centre that kept us within striking distance. With so many players down the signs were worrying.
For the only time this year the coach ?lost it? with the players at the final break and fortunately for us the boys responded to his criticism! We had been ordinary all over the ground and the determination and desire shown last week against Bentleigh had disappeared. It was only when Jack Sperring went into the middle that things started to happen. We won some taps, Jacko and Brendan started to win some ball and all of a sudden as the last quarter started we switched on. 6.3 to 1 point in the next 20 minutes meant that we doubled our score and left Peninsula wondering what had happened.
Matt Innes was fed a couple of great passes by Zeke (who potted one himself) and Jack Sperring for goals. Singles to Youl (on one leg) and youngsters Cailin and Jake and a nice snap for a goal to Brent sealed what was a hard fought victory. In the end a relief to get away with a win in a game we were clearly the better team.
After the game we regrouped at the Sandy and in less than an hour devoured about 17 of the Sandys parmas! It was good to see so many of the players down there for an after game review before the quick trip back to David Street to urge on the firsts to victory.
Scores
HR 0.4 3.5 5.5 11.8 74
Peninsula 2.3 5.4 6.4 6.5 41
Best: Sperring, Baxter, Culvenor, Britton, Atkins, Naulty, Lewis.
Goals: Innes 2, Youl 2, Baxter 1, Johnston 1, Lewis 1, McMahon 1, Sperring 1, Stevens 1, Wrigley 1.
