ESSENDON kept their finals hopes alive, defeating Casey Scorpions on their home turf by 11 points last Sunday. Fifteen of the 18 goals scored for the game were recorded to the end advantaged by the breeze, with the Bombers flying home in the final term with four goals to one to claim the win, as Dale Fenney reports.
The script did not go the way the Scorpions wanted, with captain Evan Panozza playing game 100, but not coming home with the four points.
Casey used the breeze into their advantage in the first term, on the board within the first minute of the game. Essendon struggled to get the ball inside their forward fifty due to the wind advantage, and Casey kept their opponents goalless while kicking three of their own to hold a 20 points lead at quarter time.
Taking full advantage in the second of the breeze, Essendon’s key position players David Hille and Joe Daniher quickly kicked their first goals of the afternoon, cutting Casey’s lead in half. Anthony Tipungwuti had a successful run through the middle of the ground to finish it off with a goal from outside 50m, and Essendon took a three point lead into the main break.
While Hille kicked his second goal early in the third term, the quarter was dominated by the Scorpions. Casey showed why they are a top four side kicking the last four goals of the quarter, with captain Panozza drifting forward for his first to set up a mouth watering last quarter.
With the Bombers claiming the wind advantage in the last quarter, Scott Gumbleton kicked the first goal to reduce their opponents 13-point three quarter time lead. One of Essendon’s danger men in the final term was Alwyn Davey, who kicked the next two goals to give Essendon the lead. Jesse Hogan kicked the final goal of the game for Casey just before time on to cut the lead back to just under a goal. But Matthew Firman kicked the sealer for Essendon, shrugging off a late quarter surge by Casey to claim the win by 11 points.
Essendon’s coach Hayden Skipworth was pleased with his sides four quarter performance.
“I thought it was our first game for a while where we’ve played for four quarters. I thought that early on we were threatening but without getting the scores so to have 20 odd scoring shots was a great result for us,” Skipworth said.
“I thought David Hille was really good, Ariel Steinberg did a great job on Hogan, Kavanagh did pretty well on James Magner and Zac O’Brien and Daniel Coghlan I thought and Ben Duscher were our better players.”
Casey Scorpions coach Rohan Welsh pinpointed his sides poor disposal for their back to back defeats.
“When we look at it over the game we didn’t use the ball well enough when we had the wind. I didn’t think we kicked it to the right areas of the ground and probably took the wrong option too many times and that obviously impacted on the scoreboard. I think the wind picked up in the second half.
“Our captain was probably the best Panozza - I thought he did a really good job.”
Essendon got the four points and have kept there finals hopes alive while on the other hand Casey Scorpions loss puts them back with numerous teams fighting for the top four.
Next Week:
Collingwood vs. Casey Scorpions
Victoria Park Saturday 27th July 12 Noon
Essendon vs. Bendigo Gold
Windy Hill Saturday 27th July 1:00pm
Photo: Morgan Hancock
Last Modified on 24/07/2013 00:03