POWER & THE GLORY

Surging final quarter snaps 15 years of losses to Ammos

NEWCOMB has snapped a 15-year hoodoo against Geelong Amateur, clinching a memorable 14-point win on the back of a six-goal final quarter.

The Power secured just its second victory of the season on Saturday, breaking a 26-game losing streak against Ammos, with an emotion-charged performance at Grinter Reserve.

The relief was palpable among the Power faithful, as Newcomb ended a recent run of outs in close contests and defeated Ammos for the first time since 2006.

Ruckman Kieren Bourke and midfielder Brenton Rees were huge as the Power overturned a 13-point deficit at the final change to win 11.13 (79) to 9.11 (65).

Newcomb coach Jye Walker (pictured) could not have been prouder of his charges, who dug deep to overpower Ammos in the last term.

“It’s a massive relief. We were able to pull off a close game in our favour this time, so a bit of a weight has been lifted off the guys’ shoulders,” Walker said.

“I’m really proud of the effort and very happy with the way the guys ground it out. We worked really hard in the last quarter and were able to come from behind, which was really important for our group after having those close losses this season.”

The Power had suffered heartbreaking losses to Anglesea (two points in Round 2) and Queenscliff (10 points in Round 5) this season and was also super competitive against Ocean Grove and Modewarre.

Walker said winning a close match, particularly against a club that it had struggled against, would give his players plenty of self-belief.

“We’ve got to start breaking those bad records (such as the 15-year gap between wins against Geelong Amateur) and it’s one step at a time but we’re on the right track,” he said.

“We’ve had a few go against us, but hopefully this is the start of things going for us.

“Everyone played their role … but the guys in the middle were really good all day. Kieren (Bourke) plays one-out all day and he just fights and fights and he was massive.”