The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) continued their recent dominance over a gallant AFL Sydney with a 47-point win at Blacktown International Sports Park on Saturday evening.
AFL Sydney got the early jump with Lewis Broome crumbing effectively to put the local side on the board before VAFA (Ammos) gradually gained control with Phil Edgar especially dangerous as a tall, marking target.
A wonderful snap from Ryan Price in the right pocket kept AFL Sydney in touch as they trailed the Ammos by 13 points at quarter-time.
The Ammos continued their form early in the second quarter with some strong link-up play before the local outfit gained better control in the middle third of the field. Kristian Pearson was playing well on former leading Ammo’s goalkicker, Matthew Handley.
Two goals in the space of a minute to Matt Carey, who made up for an earlier dropped mark inside 50, and another creative goal from Price saw AFL Sydney close the gap to within a point. The Ammos would kick away again to gain a 19-point half-time lead with Justin Baxter providing drive from half-back and pin-pointing Jack Watts who goaled on the half-time siren.
The third quarter saw the Ammos start impressively with a goal within the first minute. Carey and Selby Lee-Steere missed chances to reduce the deficit before a goal at the eighth minute mark from point blank range, courtesy of a fifty metre penalty opened AFL Sydney’s account for the quarter. The rest of the quarter was a dour struggle, with Dane Rampe’s goal at the eleven minute mark cancelled out by Handley’s goal seven minutes later.
Entering the final term, AFL Sydney had twenty men at their disposal having lost Sam Tagliabue (cut head) and Jeremy Kennedy (leg) earlier in the match.
The end-to-end struggle continued with the first goal not being kicked till the 12 minute mark after clever play from Handley leading to a subsequent mark and goal by Watts.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Lachlan Ferguson kicked two goals in three minutes, with another goal in between blowing the lead out for the VAFA.
The end scoreline failed to indicate the closeness of the match and the competitiveness of the AFL Sydney side.
VAFA 5.5 9.6 11.11 15.18-108
AFL Sydney 3.4 6.5 8.8 8.13-61
Goals
VAFA: Lachlan Ferguson 3, Jack Watts 3, Jackson Eade 2, Jack Bull, Matthew Handley, Lachlan Hill, Joshua Madden, Thomas O’Sullivan, Nicholas Roberts, Peter Summers
AFL Sydney: Ryan Price 2, Dane Rampe 2, Craig White, Leigh Conway, Matthew Carey, Lewis Broome
Best
VAFA: Peter Summers, Jack Bull, James Rimington, Cameron Purss, Paul Wintle, Lachlan Ferguson
AFL Sydney: Ryan Plant, Craig White, Jason Coulloupas, Dane Rampe, Kristian Pearson, Ronald Wason
Last Modified on 09/06/2012 19:03
