Doggies again denied
Daryl Pitman
24Sep07
THERE was no fairytale ending to St Paul's East Bentleigh's 2007 season when the Doggies went down by four points to St Kilda City in a thrilling Southern Football League division one grand final at Springvale on Sunday.
Playing in its fifth SFL grand final and still yet to win a title, St Paul's started as the sentimental favourite, but had its work cut out early, with the brilliant Salim Hassan in full flight for the Saints.
Hassan's influence was eventually quelled somewhat when Heath Barnes was moved on to him, but he remained dangerous.
The Saints were also winning in the ruck, where the sheer body strength of Steve Arvanitis was eclipsing the high leaping of Matt Mackenzie, although Mackenzie was having an impact around the ground.
The Doggies' kicking was astray and they missed some valuable opportunities.
But with Robbie Prew playing the game of his life and Barnes in everything, they managed to get back to within eight points at the half-time break.
Just as Hassan had set the Saints alight in the first half, it was Luke James' turn to provide a spark in the third term and a ten-minute blitz saw the Doggies three goals up and on fire.
But St Kilda City forward Mark Tasiyan twice goaled against the flow of play to keep the Saints in touch.
Steve Sziller lifted a notch in the third term and Mark Dessent was coming into the game.
When the three-quarter-time siren sounded, St Paul's held a two-goal lead but was kicking into the breeze in the final term.
It was now or never for Adam Shepard's men.
Immediately they attacked and for five minutes peppered the goals with no result.
Two shots hit the behind posts and others missed everything.
But when James produced another touch of magic with a miraculous goal on the run from the boundary line, the lead was 17 points and the Doggies looked good things.
Veteran Damen Shaw was literally throwing himself into the fray, while Thomas Dewar and James lurked menacingly up forward with the hopes of the season heavily upon their shoulders.
But a goal to Jay Bruno at the 10-minute mark brought the margin back to 11 points and when Mimo Dimachki unleashed a 50-metre bomb that sailed through the centre two minutes later, the alarm bells were ringing for the St Paul's faithful.
Former premiership coach Rob Walker put the Saints in front at the 14-minute mark, but the crowd of 3500 saved its biggest roar for Ben Artz when he regained the lead for the Doggies two minutes later.
Desperation was the order of the day as the minutes ticked by, until, moments from time-on, the irrepressible Hassan levelled the scores.
The Saints controlled the final moments, adding four more behinds in quick succession before the final siren dropped that all too familiar heavy weight of despair and frustration on to the shoulders of the red, white and blue army.
So close and yet so far, with the slumped figures of Damen Shaw and Robbie Prew conveying what no words ever could.
The final scoreline of 13.9 (87) to 12.11 (83) signalled the end of the most successful and exciting finals series in the SFL's 16-year history.
Others to do well for the Doggies included Dan O'Reilly, Thomas Dewar, and Tim Blackwood, while Adam McIntyre, Ben Artz, Richard Cooke and Chay Ryan all made valuable contributions.
For the Saints, Dylan Reiseger did a superb job on St Paul's spearhead Rohan Best, while Jay Bruno, Walker, Shaun Cotter, Adrian Newman, David Sheehan and Nick Porter all did well in an even team effort.