Wombats dig up a dour win
LANCASTER stretched Stanhope in a dourly-fought, low-scoring battle to try and keep Kyabram League finals chances alive at Stanhope on Saturday.
The young Wombats came up 13 points short but lost no admirers with their spirited showing against an undermanned Lions side, missing several players, including key goalkicking forwards Eric Edwards and Matt Forys.
Given their injuries on the day Stanhope coach Brenton Gray was happy to get out of the game with the win.
‘‘It was just a good solid win with all the players having a crack with Lancaster in a similar boat to us with some guys out so full credit to them,’’ said Gray.
The Lions led at every change and were only 10 points up at three-quarter time, but they kept the gallant Lancaster at bay in the last term to claim the points.
Goals were certainly a premium in the slog with Alex O’Reilly’s for Stanhope and Lancaster ruckman Andrew Pettigrew the only multiple goalkickers in the tightly fought affair.
Gray led his charges from the front in arguably his best game for the season.
He received plenty of support from Simon Collis, Tom Hepburn and Stuart Trevena while Shannon Aynsley and Alex O’Reilly worked hard to get the desired result for the home side.
Prize ruck recruit Andrew Pettigrove and another big man Besim Besim were standouts for Lancaster and got plenty of support from Zac Cerrone, Sam Spedding and Jayden Mitchell.
Stanhope has another home game this Saturday against a probable finalist in Violet Town.
■■■ Reigning premier Merrigum continued to strengthen its spot in the top six with a 61 points win over Rushworth at Merrigum.
The Tigers actually led at quarter time but kicked only one goal for the remaining three quarters and just three for the match as Merrigum drew right away despite plenty of inaccurate forward work.
Merrigum had six individual goalkickers with big Bryce Wellington’s three goals the best contribution.
The Bulldogs were again well served by Danny Clarke who is having a big season while Jason Christou and Chris Kilmartin also made telling contributions.
Austin Bizotto and Charlie Lowe also got their share of the ball as did Ash Cluney.
No-one tried harder for Rushworth than Todd Clarke, Steele Lloyd and Adam Vick who got most support from Daniel Lambden Alex, Gelsi and Adam Harrop.
Merrigum has a much tougher assignment this Saturday journeying to Avenel to take on the unbeaten ladder leader.
Rushworth should notch their fifth win for the season when it hosts Longwood.
■■■ Girgarre returned to the winning list in style, smashing a hapless Undera by 123 points.
The Roos found some goalkickers at last with Cameron McGill helping himself to seven goals and Ryan Jones six.
They were able to cash in on the dominance of Simon Tomasini, former St Kilda player Tory Schwarze and Ash Hughes.
Jake Phyland and Zayden Molluso also did a lot of good for the Roos.
Undera was very disappointing with regular contributors Bard Cordy and ruckman Dan Breen working overtime to stem the Girgarre tide.
They did get some support from Zac Brisn, Steve Valentin, Nafthan Frizzell and Keelan Mitchell but it was mainly oneway traffic.
Girgarre faces a stiffer test this Saturday against Tallygaroopna but they will be heartened for the showdown after a good effort against the Redlegs earlier in the season.
Unfortunately for Undera its only going to get tougher this Saturday when it hosts second placed Nagambie.
■■■ The final scoreboard indicated a close game but a strong finishing quarter probably flattered Violet Town a little in its clash with unbeaten Avenel.
The Towners kicked six last quarter goals to Avenel’s one to get within 15 points at the finish, but the Swans had dictated up to then.
In fact the Swans held a 45 point lead at the last change.
Scott Tyres, Ash Neville, Nathan Thomas and Mick McKenzie showed the way for Avenel and got plenty of support from Todd Heaysman and Paul Arandt while Sam Poole, Ben Dyer, Lochy Morrison and Matt Davies were best for the Towners.
Avenel host Merrigum this Saturday in the match-of-the-day while the Towners take on Stanhope at Stanhope.
■■■ Murchison, as expected, was untroubled disposing of Longwood in the game at Longwood.
The Grasshoppers shrugged off a sluggish first half to kick 13 second goals to Longwoods one in the last three quarters to romp to a 106 point win.
Jake Rennie and Mick Watson bagged five goals each to show the Grasshoppers the way home on the scoreboard and reap the dominance of Luke Cecchin, Rhys Newby, Jack Sanderson and Ethan Homewood.
Matt Ranger, Simon Wright, Braydon Kearns and Josh Brown were the main reasons the Towners were competitive in the first half.
Murchison has another win coming this Saturday when it hosts Ardmona while Longwood travels to Rushworth.
■■■ Big Brent Arho bagged 22 goals out of Tallygaroopna’s haul of 40 goals in the clash with winless Ardmona.
Hayden Gray with six goals and Jayden Goodwin with four also kept the goal umpires busy.
The Tally onslaught was led by Arho, Adam Serafini, Hayden Gray and Austin Tricarico while Zac Gilbert, Klae Rowan and Dylan Barbarovich tried hard for the Cats.
Tally hosts Girgarre this Saturday and Ardmona tackles Murchison.