By Trevor Jackson
PORT MACDONNELL 13.11 (89) D MOUNT BURR 8.5 (53)
MOUNT Burr travelled to the seaside to face the top-of-the-table Port MacDonnell in Round 13 of Mid South East football on Saturday and succumbed to a well-drilled Demons roster.
On their home deck the Demons were hard to hold down, as they skipped out to a handy 17-point advantage at the first break.
The Mozzies fought back in the second quarter, outscoring the Demons by a goal, but still trailed by 11 points at the long break.
From there the Demons began to up the tempo, adding four goals to two in the third term, before finishing strong with a four-goal final term to ice the game.
Colby Munro was in good touch up forward despite the slippery conditions, with three goals for the victors.
Ethan Gladman and coach Josh Woodall kicked two majors each.
For Mount Burr, Josh Fiebig, Jack Gregory and Nathan Muhovics kicked two goals each.
Mount Burr now sits eight points out of the top four, with Port MacDonnell four points clear of Kalangadoo at the top of the ladder.
“It was a good win,” Woodall said.
“It was a pretty physical game and definitely didn’t feel easy.
“We didn’t feel comfortable until about 10 minutes to go after we kicked a couple of quick ones.”
With a couple of players out injured, Woodall said a key to victory was using the ball well heading into the forward 50.
“We thought we might have been a bit short in our forward 50, so we thought if we could use the ball well, lower our eyes and hit up at the kicker, we would do alright.
“We wanted to start well because with a dry ball, to hit the scoreboard early gives a bit of an advantage.”
After the long break the game did not get any easier for the Demons, but a strong third term helped provide a bit of scoreboard pressure.
“The third quarter gave us a bit of breathing space,” Woodall said.
“If they had kicked a couple of early ones in the last quarter we would have had a bit of pressure on, but we held them and kicked a couple of quick ones, which was good.
“But it was definitely a four-quarter effort.
“We had to grind the game out and couldn’t take the foot off at all.”
Woodall was pleased with Munro’s effort up forward again, with the young sharp-shooter piling on the goals this season.
“Colby is going well,” he said.
“He is one of our key players now and has a bit of X-factor about him.”
Apart from Munro, Woodall named several players who stood up around the ground to ensure the victory came.
“Kyall McClean was pretty tough, Mark Smith had a bit of the ball in the middle, as did Wade Chant off the back flank, Ethan Gladman was really good and Tom Sullivan was one of our best,” he said.
While the Demons sit clear at the top of the ladder, Woodall is still realistic about where the side needs to finish the minor rounds.
“We are aiming for top two,” he said.
“But we have a couple of tough games coming up against Hatherleigh and Kalangadoo.
“If we can win one of those two, we will be happy to finish in the top two.”
