Coburg faced Port Melbourne in their final match of the season on Sunday. They may not have come up with a win in the end, but it was a spirited contest in which players showed a lot of heart and fighting spirit – a sign of things to come moving in to the next era (The Coburg 'Lions' Football Club). The score was close all day., and Coburg even hit the front mid way through the third term, but it was Port Melbourne who had the legs to run out the game, and did so to the tune of 28 points.
The first quarter started as expected, fierce and fast. Port were playing for a better spot in the 8 for the looming finals series, and Coburg were playing for pride and a sense of future in front of a very strong home crowd. Captain Nick Carnell kicked the first goal of the match with a near impossible set shot from 50m on the boundary, and the passion he showed was heart-warming – saluting the crowd and getting everyone fired up. Following this was a tight, end to end contest. Port Melbourne added the next 3 goals before Adam Saad provided one of the highlights of the season taking down a huge speccy 30m out from goal directly in front. He popped through the goal and sent Coburg in to quarter time behind by 1 straight goal.
The second quarter belonged to Port Melbourne. They gained the ascendancy all around the ground and their foot skills were proving too much for Coburg to stop. Ben Griffiths, playing predominantly up forward in the absence of Liam McBean, provided a good target and managed to get one goal on the board for the quarter, while Nick Maric took a good mark running back with the flight, and played on to snap his first goal around the body from the pocket. These were the only 2 Coburg managed for the term however, while Port added 4 of their own and went in to half time ahead by 20 points.
Coburg came out in the third quarter with all the fire of early in the game seemingly re-lit. They started winning the ball out of the centre consistently through Stephenson, Lonergan and McDonough in particular, while players like Nahas and Dea began to provide flair and pace off the half back line. It was evident that Coburg wanted the ball just that little bit more, as they continuously got to the ball first, resulting in some quality forward 50 entries. Before long, Coburg had shocked everyone in the ground and hit the front with around 10 minutes remaining in the term. Port managed to regain a slight lead by the end of the quarter though, going in to the final change just 1 point ahead. This third term included a lot of spot fires around the ground, some of which the umpires struggled to break up, demonstrating the importance this match held for both sides.
Unfortunately for Coburg, they ran out of legs in the last quarter. After hanging in there for the first few minutes, Port Melbourne's Dean Galea took control, kicking 3 goals in a row and putting the match almost out of reach for the fading Coburg side. These 3 goals gave Galea 7 for the day, and secured him the medal for leading goal kicker of the 2013 season. Port Melbourne added a couple more goals before the final siren, and ultimately came out on top by 28 points.
It was a disappointing end to the match for Coburg, on a day which was otherwise full of excitement and positivity of the future of the Coburg Football Club. The fans around the ground seemed to recognize the courage and heart behind the performance and would not have left the ground feeling deflated.
Coburg 10.13. 73
Port Melbourne 15.11. 101
Goals: Maric, Elton, Carnell 2, Saad, Uysal, Stephenson and Griffiths 1.
Best: Lonergan, McDonough, Verrier, Nahas, Darrou, Robortella.
Last Modified on 26/08/2013 14:13