Collingwood has claimed another big scalp, knocking off the Northern Blues by three points at Preston City Oval on Saturday as Jarrad Conron reports.
A last minute mark and goal to big man Jarrod Witts sealed the game for the Pies, who won their third game in as many weeks for the first time since 2010.
Up forward for the Pies, Jackson Paine kicked four goals to bring his total to 25 for the season. Witts and Cathal Corr were the only other multiple goal scorers with three and two apiece.
For the Blues, Jeremy Laidler and Myles Dorman both kicked three goals with Tim Lincoln, Tim Totevski, Tom Wilson, Tom Temay and Frazer Dale all slotting two apiece.
It was a heated contest early with both sides going at the ball hard.
Laidler was able to kick Carlton’s first two majors of the match and looked like he could kick a bag.
After letting the Blues kick four of the first five goals, Collingwood were able to kick two of their own late and bring the margin back to seven points at the first break.
The conditions saw both teams having to go in to contests hard and make sure of their possessions to ensure scoring opportunities.
Collingwood were able to hit the front in the second term kicking four of the first six goals.
Laidler was then able to kick his third goal and spark a run of three straight for the Blues to close out the half.
Collingwood backman Jackson Heagney-Steart went down in the final minutes of the half with what looked to be an ankle injury.
“He’s becoming a real important player from a VFL standpoint,” Tapping said about the backman.
With Heagney-Steart going down, the Collingwood coaching staff had a to find a match-up for Jeremy Laidler, who had already kicked three goals up to half time.
They put their trust into Peter Yagmoor had played a great second half, holding Laidler goalless, whilst totalling 22 disposals for the match.
“Laidler is a really good AFL player and to sort of handle and look after him should give Yags’ a lot of confidence,” Tapping said when asked about Yagmoor’s game.
With Yagmoor playing his role down back on Laidler, the Pies were able to rebound effectively and get the ball forward and convert their opportunities.
The Pies kicked six goals straight for the quarter culminating in a goal after the siren to Tim Allan to take a seven point lead going into the last change.
Collingwood kicked the first two goals of the final term through Allan and Lachlan Ferguson to get their lead out to 20 points, the largest lead of the entire match for either side.
The Blues hit back, kicking five of the next six goals with Myles Dorman kicking his third goal in the dying minutes to put the Blues in front by three points.
“It was great how the boys responded, they got challenged, they were down by a couple of goals but they fought back and were right in it at the end, it was disappointing to lose but a good effort by the boys to keep fighting all the way through,” Northern Blues coach Luke Webster said after the match.
It looked as though they would steal the win, but Collingwood weren’t going to let them get away with it.
A long kick inside 50 to Jarrod Witts, who took a diving mark 40 metres out stunned the Blues crowd.
Witts kicked truly and put Collingwood in front with just a minute left to play.
Frantic efforts from the Northern Blues midfield to get the ball forward were met by the Collingwood big man Ben Hudson, who seemed to be in every contest in the dying seconds.
The Pies defence was able to stay strong, punching the ball over the boundary line as the final siren sounded.
Coach Dale Tapping was relieved with the win, their third win by under 15 points in as many weeks.
“We’ve been involved in most of the games we’ve played this year, even the losses have all been by under ten points.” Tapping said.
Adam Oxley continues his run of stellar form, collecting 25 disposals for the match.
It was Ben Hudson who got best on ground honours though, with 12 disposals and 24 hitouts.
Alongside Hudson, Witts, Allan and Tim Broomhead and Yagmoor were all named in the best.
Kane Lambert was the shining light for the Blues, continuing his recent form with 36 disposals and nine tackles.
“He’s just a workhorse, he’s one of our leaders and he’s been one of the leaders in the midfield all year,” Webster said about Lambert.
Next week, Collingwood look to claim another massive scalp, taking on the third placed Casey Scorpions whilst the Northern Blues travel to Simonds Stadium to take on Geelong.
Photo: Shane Barrie
Last Modified on 03/06/2013 11:56