After a 10 goal drubbing from top of the ladder St Bedes/Mentone the last time the two teams met, the Rovers U19s were keen to prove they were no easybeats this time around.
Hugo won the toss and kicked with a slight breeze to the southern end of Boss James Reserve. Lachie C was on fire early and the boys showed a lot of ferocity. The ball fell to Lachie Doyle who scored the first goal of the game. Hugo G and Peter S were combining well getting the ball to Charles K who continued his great forward work by snapping the first goal of the game. He would end up with two for the quarter. St Bedes responded quickly but Liam Deville was preventing the opposition from getting on top of our defence. Ben C was tackling hard and Cam C and Luis C were stalwarts in defence. When the ball moved into our forward line again Hugo Steedman scored his first goal in his second game this year.
4.2 – 2.0
2nd Q
St Bedes had the wind this quarter and scored two quick goals Dan Hall was on the ball and stopped St Bedes’ momentum. Ben C also applied a great smother and Lucas and Lachie C combined well to get the ball to their captain, only for a point to result. We were having tremendous problems locking the ball in our forward line and St Bedes, who were winning nearly all the stoppages, started to show why they were top of the ladder with only one loss. If not for Cam C and Hugo Garrow in defence St Bedes’ scoreline would have been greater at half time.
4.3 – 4.5
3rd Q
The weather took a turn for the worse with the wind and rain and Tom Ellinghaus was performing well in the elements, dominating the ruck and tapping to his midfield well. Will C and Lucas each scored points, tying up the scores at 4.5 a piece. Dan Field and Will K were winning against their opponents however St Bedes were able to run against the dominance of the Rovers, scoring a goal into the wind. Then Peter S scored a goal on the run and Hugo L kicked a great goal from 50m out. Another standout for the quarter was Jacob Beames who worked well across the centre of the ground and half back. At the end of the quarter there were words spoken between the teams and it was good to see our boys not taking a backward step to a team who probably thought they would win easily.
7.7 – 5.6
4th Q
With a 2 goal lead it was going to be tough to stay in front kicking against the wind. St Bedes dominated the start of the last quarter and in less than 10 minutes were in front with a couple of goals and points. Dan H brought us back in the contest with a great snap goal and Luis C and Hugo G continued their good games in defence. It was a tight and close quarter and the result was in doubt up till the last few seconds. Charles K gave us a sniff with a goal that put us to within 3 points and the crowd (though very small given the weather) were cheering loudly for their team as the game was going down to the wire. Another scoring shot was not enough and we fell short by 2 points. A valiant effort by the boys and Zac, in his post game speech quite rightly said how proud he was of his team.
Hampton Rovers 4.2-26 4.3-27 5.6-36 9.8-62
St Bedes/Mentone Tigers 2.0-12 4.5-29 7.7-49 9.10-64
Goal Kickers: C. Kilburn 4, L. Doyle, H. Lay, H. Steedman, D. Hall, P. Somogyi
Best Players: H. Garrow, H. Lay, C. Carmeni, D. Field, T. Ellinghaus, D. Hall
