WEST GAMBIER 9.6 (60) d NORTH GAMBIER 6.9 (45)
IT was a typical winter’s day in the Limestone Coast on Saturday, with round nine of Western Border football suffering from the wild weather.
The match of the round at Vansittart Park lived up to expectations, despite West Gambier appearing to have control for much of the game over North Gambier.
Goals were hard to come by, but the Roos made the most of their time in front of the big sticks, with a solid return of 9.6-60.
The Tigers reversed those figures, with 6.9-45.
More accurate kicking by West made the difference in the end and equated to a 15-point win.
Tigers coach Justin McConnell was kept goal-less, with the wet Sherrin hard to grab overhead, plus the solid defensive pressure by the Roos’ back six.
He was well covered early by Jesse Pfitzner, before moving up the ground, then an injury forced him off in the final quarter.
Pfitzner was well supported by fellow backmen in Tom Zietz, Dylan Walsh, Levi Morton and Kyle Giddings, along with Wilson, who had his usual impact right around the ground.
The win saw positions at the top of the ladder change, with the Roos now sitting proud after pushing the Tigers down to second place.
But the contest was certainly spirited throughout, as the Tigers fought back after an unproductive first three quarters of football.
It provided plenty of interest as the clock wound down, but in the end it was too little, too late.
It all came after a relatively even first quarter, where the Roos held the lead, but by just seven points.
After five minutes of play they started to control the ball, but failed to capitalise in the greasy conditions.
However, before the rain began to fall heavier, the Roos had set the scene with a small lead.
As the second term opened so did the heavens, which forced both sides to push forward at every opportunity.
Michael Minuzzo began to dominate around the clearances, with his in-and-under game providing first use from the tight contests to his fellow Roos.
On the back of that West broke the game open, with more numbers around the contested ball to surge forward.
Ben Papps was on the end of a Garrett Ha clearance and a couple of ensuing handballs which found him in front of goals for an easy snap.
Soon after Dwayne Phillips threw caution to the wind and soccered a ball off the muddy deck from outside 50, which rocketed straight as a bullet for an inspirational goal and the Roos were up and about.
By the long break the lead had crept out to 23 points and what looked like a winning margin.
By that stage the Tigers had kicked just one major score, with plenty to do on a wet day to make up the deficit.
McConnell moved up the ground in the third quarter to try to have an impact and North did find a couple of goals, but West added three more to stretch the margin even further.
By the final term the Roos led by 26 points, which appeared comfortable in the less-than-ideal conditions.
However, the Tigers were not done and fought back on their home deck.
They added three straight goals in the last quarter, but could not close the deficit enough in the slippery conditions and went down by 15 points.
For the Roos it was the perfect result, now back on top of the ladder, a game clear of the Tigers.
For the Tigers it was simply a stumble in what has been a resurgent season of football.
Goals for the victors came from 2019 recruits Papps and Phillips, with three and two respectively.
Jet Attard, Josh Schapel, coach Brad Wilson and Minuzzo all added singles.
The much-anticipated ruck contest between Brett Kennedy and Todd Lewis lived up to the hype, with both named in their respective team’s best players.
Nick Blachut popped up as the only multiple scorer for North, with two majors.
