East Point 15.9 (99) d North Ballarat City 10.10 (70)
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East Point can without hesitation claim to being a Ballarat Football League premiership contender.
The Kangaroos had to work hard, but ultimately showed their quality by holding off a determined North Ballarat City by 29 points at the Eastern Oval on Saturday.
East Point had to wait until the last quarter to break open City, but when it did it came on the back of major contributiond by brothers and first-year recruits Matt and Jordan Johnston.
Kangaroos coach Jake Bridges stressed he importance of simply sticking to structures.
“We just have to commit to the effort and structure, which we were able to do after they came back at us in the third quarter.
“In terms of key performance indicators, we won six of the seven things we set out to do so that was pleasing.” he said.
“Against good sides you have to play good footy for a long period of time in order to get anywhere and I thought we were able to do that.”
North coach Shane Skontra rued some missed opportunities early in that last quarter with the game up for grabs.
“We were certainly pressing after a disappointing first half. It was pleasing to see us get back into the game , but I think we made a few fundamental errors early in the last term which allowed East Point to run away with it”.
The win pushes East Point into second position – level on points with Bacchus Marsh and a game clear of North Ballarat and Sunbury.
With Will Young and Sam Dunstan heading up a dangerous-looking City forward line, there was little in the first quarter with neither side able to gain some real ascendency.
East Point opened up a three-goal advantage by main break, with Joel Ottavi and Matt Johnston making valuable contributions.
North’s Ryan Luke was continuing his impressive season despite spending a considerable amount of time off the ground in the second term.
The margin never looked enough though and North City worked its way right back into the contest, with the visitors able to cut the margin to one point at three quarter time after a major contribution from Simon McCartin.
However, East Point rallied with five goals as the Johnstons and Ottavi combined for 10 goals.
Paul Koderenko, Aden Nestor and Daniel Tung were instrumental through the midfield.
East now plays Melton South and North faces Lake Wendouree.
Bacchus Marsh 19.22 (136) d Redan 12.9 (81)
Bacchus Marsh made full use of a strong wind at Maddingley Park to crush Redan’s hopes in the BFL on Saturday
The Cobras kicked seven goals in each of the first and third quarters to get the verdict by 55 points and further strengthen their hold on top position.
Bacchus Marsh is on the same premiership points as East Point, but more than 50 per cent better off.
With Scott Sherlock getting through just one term before lower back tightness sidelined him, Jake Owen took on the starring role for the Cobras with six goals from the midfield.
Redan stuck to its task, finally getting reward for effort in a six-goal last term to add some scoreboard credibility.
Newcomer Blake Thomson did well for the Lions as one of nine goalkickers. Sam Carr and Matthew Coon also put in encouraging performances.
The Marsh’s Aaron Willitts kicked five majors to be joint leading BFL goalkicker with Will Young (North City) on 33.
Lake Wendouree 15.7 (97) d Melton 10.10 (70)
Lake Wendouree put a big question mark over Melton’s credentials as a potential Ballarat Football League finalist at Wendouree on Saturday.
Lakers overcame a shaky opening to shut down the Bloods’ clear height advantage and early midfield superiority to turn the match into largely one-way traffic.
Lake Wendouree went from a 19-point deficit after 10 minutes to kick away with 11 of the next 14 goals.
The 27-point win lifts Lakers into sixth position – one game clear of Melton and Sebastopol.
While Lake Wendouree coach Dale Power resisted declaring the win as its best performance of the year, it was certainly its most significant with it being its first victory over a higher-placed team.
Power praised the efforts of his midfield in getting Lake Wendouree back into the contest late in the first quarter and the ongoing part the backline had played in taking the match away from Melton.
He was also impressed by the discipline shown in sticking to roles.
Not even the loss of stand-in ruckman James Price with a rib injury in the second quarter and the experienced duo Jack Elkington (knee) and Ben Taylor (ankle) being far from 100 per cent fit provided an opening for Melton to get back on terms.
Twin towers Ryan Carter and Mark Orr were unstoppable up forward from the opening bounce, with Lakers having no answer to their marking power or the ballgetting power of onballer Matt Denham.
It took Bailey Edwards and the sweeping work of Nathan Pring and Lachlan O’Connell to turn the tide and six minutes into what would be a seven-goal third quarter level the scores for the first time.
From there it was one-way traffic as brothers Liam and Caleb Hepworth began to stamp their authority through no-nonsense hard work.
Melton did not kick a goal from the two-minute mark of the third term until early in the last, and with the margin 30 points and weather closing in the match was gone.
Melton coach Aaron Tymms said the Bloods had missed an opportunity to be as much as six goals up at quarter time.
He questioned the effort put in by his players, saying there had been none.
“We didn’t give our all,” said Tymms, who at three quarter time and post-game gave the Bloods an old-fashioned bake.
Melton now has a bye to regroup before critical back-to-back games against Sebastopol and North Ballarat City.
Ballarat 11.17 (83) d Sunbury 6.8 (44)
Ballarat produced the biggest upset of the season in dispensing of Sunbury in the BFL at Alfredton on Saturday.
With just two wins in seven outings, Ballarat inflicted the Lions’ second loss to send them from second to fourth.
Sunbury coach Ben Jordan stated in the build-up that with a swathe of top-end player losses that its depth would be tested.
He concerns were spot on, with the Lions failing the test by 39 points after managing just 14 scoring shots of the face of some resolute defence by the Swans.
Ballarat did have some of the shine taken off the day with onballer Nick Garner reported for having allegedly bitten a Sunbury player at the end of the third quarter and red carded – leaving it with just 17 players for the first half of the last term.
Even with a numerical advantage, Sunbury was too far back make any ground and Ballarat made it two wins on end.
Swans coach Shane Hutchinson said Garner had denied biting anyone and would plead not guilty to the charge.
Hutchinson said an improved first quarter had been the key.
He said the Swans had in its previous games this season conceded 28.24 in opening terms while kicking 9.9.
Hutchinson admitted he did have fears when Ballarat opened up with five behinds, but the square the quarter with Sunbury had put it in the match and provided something to build on.
He believed the Swans has fed off the confidence from a win the previous week.
Sunbury coach Ben Jordan said Ballarat was just too good.
He said the Lions needed to address their accountabilty.
Ballarat is ninth and faces Darley in its third home game in a row next round.
Sebastopol 9.18 (72) d Melton South 3.14 (32)
Sebastopol is learning how to win.
However, coach Leigh Hutchinson now wants the Burra to put teams away when it has the opportunity.
He believes it missed that chance in a 40-point win over Melton South in the BFL at Marty Busch Reserve on Saturday.
Sebastopol kept the Panthers goalless until the third term, but 4.7 to half-time was not enough to put them completely out of the game.
The Burra was just as an inaccurate in the second half with 5.9.
Hutchinson said although a cross-wind did not make playing conditions easy, Sebastopol has missed too shots on goal.
Toby Hutt was the game’s only multiple goalkicker with a bag of six to keep the Burra within striking distance of the top six.
Unfortunately for Heath Pritchard, there was no fairytale start to his coaching stint with the winless Melton South, although it was encouraging to see the likes of Mitchell Golby and Dale Houghton make an impact along with Shaun White and Matthew Notman.