Fightback too late
A DOMINANT second half wasn’t enough to get Geelong over the line it is Vic League 1 men’s hockey match at Stead Park on Saturday.
The Sharks paid the price for falling 3-0 down after 19 minutes and despite goals from captain Liam Kerr-Nelson (23 minutes) and Jimmy Jirik (45 minutes) they couldn’t find the back of the goals.
The loss leaves Geelong in sixth place at the halfway mark of the season, six points out of the four.
Despite the result, KerrNelson was pleased with the effort, particularly the teamwork in the second half.
“It’s always tough coming back from three down, the pressure was on to step up in that second half,’’ he said.
“Although we didn’t make the cut, I’m really proud of the boys and how we came back and fought. It was good.’’
Geelong has improved throughout the season with several matches that could have tipped in their favour and faces the challenges now of reversing a number of close losses it had in the first half of the season.
“There were a couple of chances missed (today) but they missed some as well, it could have gone both ways,’’ Kerr-Nelson said. “It was one of our most competitive games this year.’’
Better players included Greg Hutchison, defensive leader Mark Jackson and goalkeeper Ben Champion.
“Overall there were a few standouts, but the team, together, we played really well,’’ Kerr-Nelson said. “We had a chat (at half-time) and pulled together well after that.”
The women’s team warmed up for their top of the table clash with Mornington with a 5-0 win over bottom side West Vic.
Although always in control, Geelong managed only one goal in a scrappy first half before finding its form late to run away with the match.
“Probably today we just didn’t link and communicate quite well enough,’’ coach Shane Walters said after the game.’’
“There was patches of (our best) and towards the end there the game opened up a bit.
“One of the things we spoke about was maximising when we’re on top, which we obviously did towards the end so we were happy with that part of it.
“The girls have just got to keep doing the hard work off the ball I think. We were a little bit lazy early and they outworked us, but it was a credit to our girls.
“Fitness is a key for us this year and they did pretty well with that.’’
Geelong’s better players included Shannon Leigh, Alex Humphrys and Tatiana Rouch.
Geelong’s goals came through Emmaline Moore (17 minutes) in the first half, Eliza Flanagan (48min), while they broke the game open with a flurry from Grace Brennan (64), Shannon Leigh (64) and Emma Hatton (68).
The women’s reserves scored an impressive 9-1 win while the men had a 3-3 draw after leading with two minutes remaining.
All Geelong teams are at home next Saturday against Mornington Peninsula with the men’s games at 12.30pm and 2pm (firsts) and the women at 3.30pm (firsts) and 5pm.