Micah Buchanan continues to emerge as one of the recruits of the season with a goal of the year contender that went a long way towards winning Aspley the game against Redland at Graham Road today.
The 26-year-old has developed into a key midfielder for the Hornets since being lured north from Colac over summer and he was pivotal in the 13.18 (96) to 10.9 (69) triumph that put Aspley into fourth place.
Aspley appeared to have blown the game open when they led by 34 points at the 24-minute mark of the third term, but were under siege when Redland had closed to within four points just 11 minutes into the last term.
The Bombers had all the momentum when the nuggetty Buchanan charged onto a the fall of the ball at a centre bounce, pushed and then soccered the ball forward to Declan Bevan, received the handpass back and goalled from 50m on the run.
It was the first of three goals in four minutes for the home team, the burst of goals quickly putting paid to the contest.
Buchanan set himself to try and turn the momentum.
“Stav’ (Sam Stavenuiter) came into the ruck and he said ‘I’m going to put it there, so get there’,” Buchanan said of the crucial ruck knock. “It was good work by him.
“I got a bit lucky, it bounced my way and I got it through.”
Buchanan was in the thick of the action all day and vied with skipper Robbie Copeland and key defender Michael Hutchinson for best-on-ground honours.
Copeland took three super strong pack marks at key times during the day apart from controlling traffic in defence. Hutchinson went head-to-head with the hard-running Scott Clouston and ensured he wasn’t an influence on the game for one of the few times this season.
Steve Brittain was cool under pressure in defence all day and Matt Davis produced some critical plays at key times.
Both defences were well on top in the first half, with each team guilty of trying to hold onto the ball too long when in heavy traffic.
Travis Johnstone was prominent for Redland in his comeback game from injury, playing a lead role in the Bombers staying within four points at halftime after the two teams sprayed a combined 2.12 in the second quarter.
With Scott Waters applying a heavy tag on Redland matchwinner Phil Carse and James Charlesworth sidelined through injury, Matt Thomson and Tom Salter became the leading ballwinners for the Bombers.
Bombers forward Josh Pullman had a good duel with Hornet Brendan Colch, both doing some good things but Pullman wasting 1.3 in the first half and 1.4 for the game.
Aspley emerged from the dressing rooms at halftime to play at a completely different tempo above Redland, adding 5.3 to 0.0 in the first 17 minutes, Bevan getting heavily involved
Ryan Thompson kicked two goals in a minute of the resumption with some strong bodywork and his teammates were in total control all around the ground.
Dylan Reid gave them plenty of momentum at the bounces and the Bombers blazed away into the forward line when they did have the ball.
The Bombers actually went from the 29-minute mark of the first term until the 17-minute of the third without registering a goal, but kicked the last three goals of the third term, including two in the last minute.
Blake Passfield had been quiet until then, but exploded on the wing to get his side going and continue in that vein early in the fourth.
Thomson, Salter and Justin Myers got extra busy and with some sublime touches by Daniel Dzufer, added 5.0 in 13 minutes either side of the last break.
That’s when Buchanan produced his individual piece of magic, and the wooden spoon favourites at the start of the year suddenly had won for the fifth time in the last eight weeks.
“It was good to kick away and get over the line but it wasn’t great to be in that position after getting six goals up in the third quarter,” Buchanan said.
While the defence was outstanding, Aspley also got an important four goals out of Jamie Sheahan in a permanent small forward role, and Mitch McKee was busy again in the midfield. The Hornets combined well to cover the loss to important midfielder-forward Matt Shir through injury.
For Redland, Jason Paxman worked hard in the ruck all day and did plenty of good work around the ground, Zaine Pringle was fearless, and Brad Howard was most constructive at different times.
The Bombers’ second loss in a row was difficult to swallow, and coach Greg Seton-Lonsdale spoke at length to his charges about their third quarter fades immediately after the game.
“That’s two weeks in a row we’ve done that now, it was similar to the Northern Territory,” Seton-Lonsdale said. “This week was probably a lot more crucial – they really kicked away from us. We had a discussion about it and hopefully we can bounce back.
“I won’t knock their (the players’) effort early in that fourth quarter. We had a bit of bubble about us and we were up and about, but when it was really crucial times we probably let ourselves down with our workrate.”
Last Modified on 12/06/2011 21:43