NEWTOWN & CHILWELL'S third win for the season has been highlighted by a nine goal haul from Jay Bett in a best on ground performance.
The win was set up with a strong second-half showing against St Albans, running out 16.10 (106) to 11.6 (72) winners, moving the Eagles into the top five.
Eagles coach Jacob Spolding lauded his team’s efforts after being a man down when captain Michael Stanley was red-carded before the start of play in the third term.
“I though he (Bett) presented really well, our ball use to give him the chance at it was super,” Spolding said
“He obviously finished off a lot of good work, we don’t expect him to kick nine every week, but a day out like today it’s fantastic for him.”
Tension between the two clubs was high heading into the second half as a major scuffle broke out on the half time siren, with Stanley sitting out the rest of the match as a result.
Spolding said that he spoke to his players at the main break about keeping their minds on the task at hand and to remain disciplined.
“As a footy club, that’s not what we stand for, we don’t want to engage in that kind of stuff,” he said.
“Obviously it hurt, we lost our skipper for the second half and we just can’t afford to get caught up in that kind of stuff.”
Both sides went goal for goal during the first quarter, until the Eagles kicked two late goals to open up a 14 point margin at the first change.
St Albans imposed itself on the contest in the second quarter, owning the football for most of the term putting the Eagles’ defence under pressure.
Despite being one man down for the second half, the Eagles seized control of the contest during the third quarter, kicking five unanswered goals to open the margin to 39 points.
Two late goals to Ricky Morris, one coming after the siren, gave St Albans hope about, a come from behind victory.
But any chance the Supersaints had of getting back in the match were put to bed when Michael Condy goaled in the first minute of the final term.
Since their round one loss to North Shore, the Eagles have strung three wins together to sit third on the GFL ladder after four rounds.
Spolding said that events leading up to round one, including Michael Bright’s defect to Bell Park and the loss to North Shore, had galvanised the playing group as well as the club.
“We were pretty strong internally and we knew what we stood for and what we were capable of doing” Spolding said.
“We’ve just kept working away, working away at training and learning the game plan and it’s starting to come to fruition.”
The Eagles come up against the undefeated Bell Park next weekend, in a contest Spolding said would give his players a greater indication of where they sit in 2011.
“They’re obviously the yardstick of the competition along with South Barwon, so it will certainly give us a good indication of where we stand.”
Last Modified on 11/01/2012 13:32