Melton South’s Rex Hickman soars to pull in a screamer.
PINK was the colour of Melton South’s socks worn in support of breast cancer research, but it was a purple patch in the second that paved the way for the Panthers to defeat Bacchus Marsh at Melton Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
The ‘pink’ Panthers reeled off five unanswered goals on the way to a 15.10 (100) to 8.13 (61) victory over the Cobras.
That squared Melton South at two wins and two losses from four starts this season.
“It was a gutsy team effort from the players,” Melton South coach Shane Geddes said.
“We’re happy to square the win-loss ledger going into what is effectively a double bye for us.”
Melton South started the game without key playmakers, Doug Thomas and Shaun White. By the final siren they were reduced by injury to 17 players.
With winners on every line the Panthers dominated the contests up forward, though, led by a tidy 31 points at half time.
In particular, Bacchus Marsh had no answer to the inside 50 superiority of Melton South forwards Rex Hickman, and leading Ballarat Football League goal kicker Mathew Sutton, until Bacchus Marsh coach Dave Callander swung his own big men James Dickinson and Pat Schwalger into defensive match ups.
While the tactic worked — Melton South kicked a mere three goals for the quarter — it meant there were no genuine targets inside their forward 50 for the Cobras.
To make matters worse, the Cobras trademark running game was only chugging along in second gear due to Melton South’s ability to play its small ground to perfection. The margin was a comfortable 56 point at three quarter time.
Bacchus Marsh finally clicked into top gear in the final quarter producing 11 scoring shots, whilst limiting Melton South to four.
Luckily for the Panthers, three of their shots were goals, while Bacchus Marsh could only muster the same despite having nearly three times as many chances.
Bacchus Marsh Coach Dave Callander expressed his disappointment in his players by describing their performance against Melton South as tokenistic.
He predicted a big week on the training track for his youthful Cobra outfit in preparation for next week’s home game against top of the ladder Sunbury.