Port Melbourne have continued to re-write the record books after they notched up their 26th win in a row, storming home over North Ballarat in a second half blitz. Brendan Lucas reports.
Looking for their second win of the season, North Ballarat had come to play, and took it up to the undefeated Borough in the opening half.
The Borough set the intensity early in the first term, but North Ballarat rallied in the second to bring the margin to 13-points at the main change.
John Baird backed up his 150th game last week with a stellar performance. Sam Dwyer and Chris Cain led the goal-kicking tally with four each, whilst Shane Valenti continued his string of good form through the middle.
The Borough capitalized with a spread of 15 goal kickers for the day, but it was the Roosters who missed a crucial scoring opportunity to hit the front before half time through forward Bill Driscoll.
After the Borough held a slender lead at the main change, Gary Ayres gave his side a spray in the rooms at the break. He told his side they had disregarded the key areas to focus on which had been discussed.
Port Melbourne responded after half time and kicked the first three. The Roosters attempted to minimize the damage, but the Boroughs overlap and run off halfback was too much to handle.
Mitchell Woffindin provided a spark of pace with a goal at the 14-minute mark, and gave a glimpse of future excitement for Boroughs fans.
Driscoll was the only multiple goal kicker for the Roosters and finished with four, but the Boroughs had done the damage by three quarter time.
North Ballarat coach Gerard FitzGerald showed his anger in the huddle and urged his players to finish the game strongly.
However the Borough had all the answers in the last term, and kicked eight goals to record a dominant 84-point win.
Port coach Gary Ayres said he had been pleased with his midfield’s ability to carry the load, but assured that improvement as a whole still had to be made.
“I thought our spreading of the load with our team got better after half time,” he said.
“I think it is the volume of midfielders that we can put through there. I think one of the strengths was in previous years is that we can throw a huge number of players in there.”
“The group has got to emerge as a total midfield group and not just in outstanding leaders as Baird and Valenti. They’re not going to do it on their own, so our volume we have needs to keep improving all the time.”
The undefeated Port Melbourne will try to extend their winning streak this week against the Northern Blues at home, whilst North Ballarat will meet top four contenders the Casey Scorpions in a tough contest away.
Last Modified on 24/04/2012 23:02