Picture: FRANK MONGER
EAST GAMBIER 10.11 (71) d CASTERTON SANDFORD 9.6 (60)
EAST Gambier returned to the winner’s list on Saturday with a gritty victory over Casterton Sandford at McDonald Park.
The round-nine Western Border clash was typified by wet-weather football, with opportunities in front of goal hard to convert with the wet ball.
The game was played in two halves, with the Cats controlling the first and last terms, while the Bulldogs made the most of the middle two and set up the victory.
The Cats sat in fourth place on the ladder before the clash, with two premiership points separating them and South Gambier in fifth, which placed plenty of pressure on the visitors.
East coach Matt Willson said his side had planned for a fast start by the Cats.
“We knew they would come out fairly hot,” he said.
“They had a good second half last week and we knew they would bring that momentum into the game.
“We just wanted to stay in touch with them early in the contest and match their physicality.
“The contested footy they play stands up when it does get wet, so we knew they would be strong.
“To match them early around the contest was always going to be huge.”
But the Cats were up to the task and led by 11 points at the first break, after a better conversion rate in the greasy conditions, with 3.3-21 for the quarter, to the Bulldogs’
1.4-10.
The Cats had found plenty of the ball around the ground and chipped their way forward to create shots in inside 50.
However, that all changed in the second term when the Bulldogs began to find their range.
With an 11-point deficit to chase down, as the rain fell heavier it was always going to be a tough task to bridge the gap then pull away.
However, the Bulldogs began to click and find the big sticks.
They banged on four straight goals to turn the game around and create a five-point lead at the long break.
Willson said it was tough to play catch-up football on such a wet day, but he urged his players to keep pushing the ball forward and hoped the rewards would come.
“We made the most of our opportunities in the second quarter,” he said.
“When you kick goals instead of points it can turn around pretty quickly.”
The Bulldogs continued in the third term with another four major scores, while again holding the Cats to one.
That created a handy 25-point advantage in the worsening conditions.
It still left one more term and the Cats came hard.
The final quarter saw the Cats turn the contest on its head, with four goals to one to almost steal the game.
“It was good to see our guys stand up in that last quarter,” Willson said.
“Tully Balshaw, Grady Janeway and Patty Hatch – those guys who are really good at the contest stood up when we needed them to.”
In the end the 11-point margin was enough for the Bulldogs to seal the win and tighten their hold on third place.
While Matt Scanlon spent some time on Will Macdonald and held the big forward to just two goals, he also managed to drift forward, moving later in the game to end up leading all scorers with three goals.
“He plays that role really well for us,” Willson said.
“He gets to match up on a pretty good forward most weeks and can be really dangerous when he does play off.”
Kev Thomson also kicked two goals in what has been a tough season for the mobile forward.
“Kev has been a bit more injury free and has been getting onto a couple of goals,” Willson said.
“He works up the ground really well, has a big work rate and is getting reward for it.”
Apart from those two there were five other Bulldogs who contributed major scores.
Willson said that was the ideal scenario for his side, which he said was still undermanned.
“Injuries have been a bit of a demon for us this season,” he said.
“We are probably still four or five players away from our best 22.
“Hopefully we get a a couple more back in this week and slowly build up.
“With seven games to go it would be nice to build towards that full strength side and get some stability in the team in the back end of the year.”
For the Cats the result places them in a precarious position.
The Demons are around percentage point behind in fifth place, which sets the back half of the season up with a real battle for the last post-season spot.
