By Simon Dang
Burbank Oval was host this Sunday to the VFL's clash of the titans between the first placed and undefeated Williamstown Seagulls and second placed reigning premiers North Ballarat Roosters.
Despite early possessional dominance by the Seagulls, North Ballarat jumped out of the blocks strongly in the first quarter with three early goals, two from the dangerous Corey Jones. The ladder leaders soon kicked into gear though. Inspired by a Matt Little goal, the Seagulls pushed their way back into the game and to a 17 point quarter time lead. Ben Davies was an absolute ball magnet and capped the quarter off with a late goal.
North Ballarat got off to another flyer in the second with three early goals to take the lead. A arm wrestle ensued between the two league titans with inaccurate costing both teams a chance to break away. The rest of the quarter saw a tight, intense contest as the teams shared three loose goals from Jones, Wayde Skipper and Cam Lockwood to end the half with Willy retaining a slight 4 point lead.
After the break, the two continued their struggle going goal for goal through the early stages. North Ballarat seemed to be gaining the edge over Seagulls when Jones kicked his fifth goal before Michael Wundke and Bill Driscoll slotted home. Roosters' big man Cartledge was showing particular influence. Jones missed a golden chance to extend the Roosters lead to 3 goals and the Seagulls were sure to compile his misery by sneaking a late goal to cut the margin to under a goal and go into three quarter with the momentum.
The stage was set for a grand finale as the final quarter got under way. Seagulls Sam Reid got the all important first goal to level scores to earn his side the ascendancy. Little then marked strongly and slotted to home after a costly mistake in the midfield from the Roosters. It looked like the error might have handed Seagulls the momentum and possibly the game but from a hopeful kick Wundke took a big grab and scored to level things up.
The final stages of the game was begging for a player to stand up and win it for his team but it wasn't to be. Anti-climatically, Henry White and Corey Jones exchanged goals to sustain the stalemate before North Ballarat missed a few scoring opportunities to put the game out of the Seagull's reach. The two behinds the Roosters conjured up in that period was still enough though as they held onto possession to inflict the first defeat of the season for Williamstown.
FINAL SCORES
Williamstown 6.2 8.5 12.6 15.8.98
North Ballarat 3.3 7.7 12.11 14.16.100
GOALS
Williamstown: Little 3, Skipper 2, Grant 2, Reid 2, Rose, Davies, Lockwood, O'Keefe, White
North Ballarat: Jones 6, Driscoll 2, Wundke 2, Spolding, Watt, Cartledge, Sewell
BEST
Williamstown: Davies, Little, Johnson, Cloke, Rose
North Ballarat: Jones, Cartledge, Maloney, Wundke, Watt
Last Modified on 01/06/2009 10:18