Trevor Jackson
Kalangadoo 27.15 (177) d Kongorong 7.9 (51)
Kalangadoo continued on its merry way in Round 11 of Mid South East football, with an easy victory over Kongorong.
The opening term did not set the scene and while the Magpies were out to an early lead, they did not blow the game apart in the first stanza.
However, a combination of tight defence and their trademark running game, the Magpies denied the Hawks any real opportunities up forward, holding them to just two behinds for the term, while adding a couple of majors and seven minor scores to go to the long break in a commanding position.
Any hope of closing the margin was soon dashed, as the Hawks were mauled by the Magpies in the second half.
In true style they added nine majors in the third term, then finished the game in style with 11 goals in the final term.
With 27 goals on the board, it would be easy to expect a Michael Krieger show.
However, while the young gun forward kicked seven majors, he was joined by Ben Mules with four, then five other Magpies with three each.
Magpies coach Kevin Stark said he felt the scoreboard did not represent the true battle on the ground, as the Hawks pushed hard to the final siren.
“I thought they fought hard and even in the last quarter they had a strong patch where they had some good play out of the middle and converted on the scoreboard,” he said.
“You can’t take any credit away from them for what they did in the last quarter.
“They are a young side but when they were on and doing what they wanted to, they moved the ball well and did some good things.”
Despite that effort from the Hawks, the Magpies still finished the game off well, creating an extra-long final term.
With 11 goals of their own as the game began to wind down, the Magpies certainly did not appear to back off.
However, Stark said it was not all easy going.
“I thought they defended well, especially in the first half,” he said.
“We didn’t find scoring easy and needed a lot of repeat entries to kick those goals.”
The hard work paid off and Stark said he was pleased with the contribution up forward, led well by Krieger.
“He consistently does his thing and racks up big scores,” he said.
Stark also noted if the a side did relax this season, the price could be expensive.
“We always talk about a four-quarter effort and it showed on Saturday if you do relax for five minutes, you pay the price,” he said.
“It means you can’t cruise through a game, you have to be on.
“In the last quarter they could have stopped trying but they ran the game out.
“That was good for them and good for us.
“All in all I was pretty happy with how it went.”
