St Marys moved into third gear at TIO Stadium last night

ST MARYS moved into third gear at TIO Stadium last night when they beat a competitive but outclassed Nightcliff by 51 points.

The Green Machine booted 17 goals to nine in the first three quarters before dropping back a gear to win 20.10 (130) to 11.13 (79) and retain their unbeaten start.

Like any well- oiled machine they had plenty of drive in the ruck, a rebounding defence, running midfield and hungry key forwards desperate to take advantage of the amount of football coming their way.

Skipper Peter MacFarlane booted five goals in his first game back from a nagging calf injury, but even he was left to admire the allround skills of his side.

‘‘We got a cracking game from Mark Blake with the amount of ball he provided us with and the midfield was outstanding, they made our jobs up forward a lot easier,’’ MacFarlane said.

‘‘We knew it was going to be a tough game, there’s a pretty good rivalry developing between the two sides.’’

Darren Ewing booted eight goals from superb delivery by Shannon Rioli, Justin Wilson, Henry Labastida and Shaq McKenzie.

And around the goals the diminutive form of Henry Kerinaiua provided several defensive tackles and quick handballs that resulted in goals for his side.

Defensively Jack Long and Russell McAdam were creative while allowing their opponents little room to move.

Nightcliff looked sharp at times but lost their poise

Wegot a cracking game from Mark Blake with the amount of ball he provided us

when they did not have the ball and that was a lot of the time.

Julian Lockwood battled hard against the Saints’ twin towers of Blake and Steven Miles and Trevor Baust and Tim Jenkins showed they can do some damage if given space by their opponents.