Coach won’t be drawn into a blame game

ANAKIE coach Chris Moore refuses to blame a scoreboard error for his side’s controversial draw with Werribee Centrals.

The Roos were denied a breakthrough win, sharing the points with the Centurions, despite the scoreboard showing post-match that Anakie had won by a point.

It was changed to a 89-all draw after the goal umpires convened.

But Moore would not point the finger at the scoreboard attendant.

“Mistakes can be made,” he said. “I’ve got no ill-feelings about that.

“We had our chances and Werribee had their chances and in the end it was a draw.

“And I still can’t guarantee that we would’ve played any differently if we knew it was a draw.

“The boys were under a lot of pressure in those last few minutes and I don’t honestly think it would’ve changed the outcome.

“But it was more disappointing for our players and supporters.”

Moore said he only discovered scores were tied in the dying seconds.

“For the last 3-4 minutes, the ball was in their forward 50 and the scoreboard said we were a point up,” Moore said.

“We were defending for our lives, thinking we were in front, but then I got a tap on the shoulder with probably 1:10 to go, saying the score was wrong and it was actually level.

“The scoreboard never got corrected, so the siren goes, the game’s over and our supporters thought we’d won the game. However I knew it was a draw.”

Moore said a conversation between one of his players and the goal umpire confirmed the match was tied, but there was little time for the runner to alert the players.

“It (play) was right in front of the coaches’ box, so I was trying to throw out a message to as many players as I could,” Moore said.

“The runner couldn’t physically go out there because there was 18 players around the footy. It was just one of those moments where you just had to sit back and hope for the best.”

Moore said it was a bittersweet feeling for the club.

“It’s the first draw I’ve ever coached and I’ve coached for nine years,” he said. “So in the rooms afterwards, I was trying to think of what to say. You can’t be overly excited but you can’t be disappointed either.

“So my message was, ‘From where we were in the first four weeks, to keep our heads up and fight back in that last quarter, we should be proud of ourselves and it should be a momentum shift in the right direction’.”

It was the second controversial finish between the clubs in as many games, following the lights-out drama at Galvin Park last season.

“It’s amazing. We can’t take a trick, to be honest,” Moore said.

“Putting that aside, we got 13 or 14 points down kicking against a twogoal breeze so I was happy with the way the boys responded.

“Look, a draw’s better than a loss but a win would’ve been better.”