Port Melbourne “seized the moment” as coach Gary Ayres was hoping his side would, achieving their first win of the season against Box Hill Hawks by 24 points as Brittany Shanahan reports.
The Borough kicked off the season at Box Hill City Oval with great accuracy and consistency to complement their willingness to move the footy forward.
In what turned into a tight affair Patrick Rose (11 possessions, 5 goals) stood out from the pack and provided a prominent target up forward. Accompanying Rose was teammate Dean Galea who was also a handy contributor with four goals. Combined the pair scored over half of Port Melbourne’s final score.
The scores were level late in the second term but Box Hill continually pushed Port Melbourne to the limit in an attempt to regain control of the footy.
Box Hill’s Sam Gibson (35 possessions) and Paul Puopolo (24 possessions) were the stand out performers in the Hawks line-up. The pair constantly put their body on the line at the stoppages and Gibson was evidently effective with a game high of eight clearances for the match.
Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres was very pleased with his side’s performance and believes that fitness was a key component to the win against Box Hill.
“Today’s win is a by-product of our performance over the last month. I think it’s a credit to our fitness to match it against a side that moves the ball quickly and efficiently,” Ayres said.
“Full credit to the guys, when you think about the style of footy both sides are trying to play it’s a really good advertisement for VFL footy. “
“Our tackle count in the final quarter was really inspirational and resulted in us getting some goals from the terrific hard work we applied.”
Ayres also praised Roses’ five-goal effort, which lifted the side when the game was on the line.
“He is hopefully going to thrive on our ability to coordinate and cooperate as a team in that forward line and it just shows how dangerous he is with space.”
Match Summary
Box Hill Hawks 4.2 5.4 8.8 10.13 (73)
Port Melbourne 2.4 6.5 9.6 15.7 (97)
Goals
Box Hill Hawks Lisle 3, Duryea 2, Hoegel 2, Gibson, Smith, Sierakowski, Puopolo
Port Melbourne Rose 5, Galea 4, Lynch, Batsanis, Valenti, Dwyer, Langford
Best
Box Hill Hawks Lisle, Gibson, Ellis, Duryea, Puopolo
Port Melbourne Rose, Galea, Brewer, Batsanis, Pleming
Last Modified on 05/04/2011 00:59