By Lewis Mulvey
The Northern Bullants cemented their place in the top eight with an important win over Collingwood, who have now slipped out of the finals positions based on percentage. The match was decided by the ability of each team to utilise a fierce southerly breeze that restricted scoring at the northern end of the ground to just three goals for the match. The Magpies came home with the wind in the last quarter, and while they were trailing by 25 points at three quarter time they still would have fancied themselves a real chance to win. However, while keeping the Bullants scoreless for the term, the Pies squandered numerous chances in front of goal, and the Bullants’ defence did enough to scrape away with the win.
The match got off to a slow start as both sides struggled to find rhythm, and it was ten minutes before Jordan Bannister snapped the first goal of the match from fifty metres out. From then on the Bullants grew in confidence, using the wind at their backs to pump the ball forward, with Luke Morgan and Adam Bentick kicking majors. The Collingwood players found it difficult to control their skills against the wind, and although Chris Dawes took a number of strong marks up forward, the Pies could not convert their attack into goals.
The Magpies inevitably grew in confidence in the second quarter, and it didn’t take long for Dawes to take a strong grab inside 50 and convert for the Pies’ first goal. Collingwood captain Damien Peverill was brilliant in the middle, grabbing numerous contested possessions and drilling a big goal from outside fifty in the second quarter. That goal was followed by a beauty from Collingwood’s Jarryd Blair, as he audaciously side-stepped a tackle and drilled it from forty metres out, by which time it was clear that the two sides were evenly match and it would be a close and hotly contested second half.
The Bullants came out with purpose in the third quarter, as Bentick, Shaun Grigg and Adam Iacobucci saw more and more of the ball in midfield. Iacobucci kicked an enormous goal from outside 50 to give his side a 16 point lead, which was followed by a major error from Collingwood’s Shannon Cox as he was caught holding-the-ball in defense by the impressive Jeffrey Garlett, who duly converted. The Bullants were beginning to stretch the margin, however a late goal off the ground by Danny Stanley gave the Pies a sniff going into three quarter time.
The last quarter was marred by errors early on. As the Pies attacked the Bullants for long periods, the home side dropped men into defense to try and stem the flow, but although Brad Fisher, Simon Wiggins and Grigg were gathering a lot of the ball, their skills began to suffer as the enormous southerly wind appeared to grow even stronger and, miserably for the crowd, colder. Yet the Pies could not convert their chances – Stanley failed to get his boot to a ball in the goalsquare, which was followed by a costly Dawes miss. Finally the Pies broke their final quarter goal drought when Corrie got one on the run from forty-five, which opened the floodgates for Collingwood to come home with a flurry. But inevitably it was too little too late, and the Bullants held on for a great win, celebrated by the sizeable and lively Preston crowd.
Northern Bullants 4.4 5.5 10.11 10.11 (71)
| Collingwood 0.1 5.2 7.4 9.9 (63)
GOALS:Northern Bullants: Bentick 3 Cloke 2 Bentley Morgan Bannister Garlett Iacobucci
Collingwood: Dawes 2 Blair Colbert Corrie Peverill MacAffer Rocca Stanley
BEST:Northern Bullants: Iacobucci Grigg Pfeiffer Garlett Bentick Bannister
Collingwood: Pendlebury MacAffer Dawes Cook Peverill Keefe
Last Modified on 03/08/2009 13:31