Coburg went down 15.13 (103) to the Northern Blues' 19.15 (129) in a hard fought cross-town rivalry match on Sunday, played at Mantello Holden Oval. The Blues skipped away from the tigers in the first half to open up a big lead, only to see Coburg fight back hard in the third term and just not quite have to staying power to close out the game.
After going in to quarter time 2 goals ahead, the Tigers were looking strong, and the much anticipated cross-town rivalry match looked as if it was going to deliver the tight game everybody was expecting. The Northern Blues proceeded to kick 9 goals to 2 in the second quarter however, to see themselves go in to half time 11.8 (74) to Coburg's 6.6 (42) - 32 points ahead. The quarter saw Coburg's White and Williams go down with injuries that would not allow them any game time for the rest of the day, and added to Nathan Foley being subbed at half time (due to his return from a long term injury) this saw them go in to the second half with just a one man bench, and a big lead to chase down.
Very early in the third term, things looked to get worse for Coburg with captain Nick Carnell also suffering an injury which put him out for the rest of the day. Coburg now had no bench to speak of and still had a hefty lead to chase. Against all odds though, Coburg lifted immensly in the third, with Aaron Edwards (7 goals) in particular providing a strong target in the forward half and helping Coburg reduce the deficit to just one goal going in to the final term. Coburg showed a huge amount of heart in the third quarter effort, and the large home crowd lifted noticably.
For most of the final quarter Coburg matched the Blues, always staying within a couple of goals. The inevitable did occur eventually however, with the lack of rotations finally taking it's toll on the Coburg players which in the end saw them go down by 24 points.
It was a loss that Coburg can take a lot from against a strong Northen Blues outfit. They never gave up and unfortunately the reduced bench was too much to deal with in the end.
Coburg Tigers 4.4 6.6 12.11 15.13 (103)
Northern Blues 2.4 11.8 13.11 19.15 (129)
GOALS:
Edwards 7, Nahas 2, Saad 2,. Elton, O'Hanlon, Foley, Arnot
BEST:
Helbig, Edwards, Darrou, Stephenson, Elton, Robertella
Development League
Coburg Tigers 4.8 4.8 8.16 9.21 (75)
Northern Blues 11.3 13.3 15.7 19.12 (126)
GOALS:
Layley 2 Cleary 2 Robinson Palazzo Bean Clifton Brown
BEST:
Abdallah Brandt Clifton Bean Loraine Ratcliffe.
*Next week's matchup's are against the Box Hill Hawks at Box Hill City Oval, on Saturday the 27th April.
Last Modified on 23/04/2013 11:03