Seniors
Another heartbreaking loss and for the second week in row we went down by a kick. Our profligacy (0.7) in Qtr 2 was disastrous in the long run. A pleasing feature was that in our best 6 were 2 youngsters: Adrian Indovino, Liam Wood and 2 recruits: Tom Curry, Mitch Carney. This group plus another youngster Luke Gogis contributed 6 of the team’s 9 goals.
QTR 1
Xavs, kicking with an extremely strong wind to the Dairy Bell end, took 15 minutes to open their goal account. DLS defence despite being under
constant pressure, performed admirably. All of the match ups were working: Dan Close on Waller, Tom Humphrey on Goss & Ben Oakley on Handley.
Another 8 minutes of strong defence before Goss goaled from a very soft free. When Goss goaled after the siren, marking from a scrambled kick out of the pack, Xavs had their 5th goal to lead by 39 points.
QTR 2
An errant kick across to the centre of ground provided Xavs with an easy intercept resulting in Handley goaling, after fast after DLS had missed 3 easy goaling opportunities!The remainder of the quarter was a repetition of DLS missed opportunities with careless entries into the scoring arc making it easy for the Xav’s defence, which is very good anyway. 7 behinds was a woeful match losing display and culminated in DLS trailing by 39 at half time. The same margin as that at Qtr time.
QTR 3
The wind had abated substantially but still favoured the Dairy Bell end. DLS attacked continuously with a change in strategy with short accurate passes to lead up forwards predominating. A series of clean handpasses resulted in Mitch Carney kicking DLS’s 1st goal 4 minutes into the 2nd half! Xavs responded immediately when a long shot rolled through an unguarded goal front. Handley goaled with his 2nd clear possession and the Xav’s lead was a depressing 44 points (58:14) about 3 times DLS total score!
Adrian Indovino goaled from the square after good series of passes & hand balls, but Xavs again replied nullifying any impact on that big margin. Aaron Kneebone displaying typical speed to evade desperate Xav’s defenders snapped truly. This was quickly followed by Mitch Carney getting his 2nd when he was the beneficiary of superb centre clearance work by Dan Close & Tom McMahon.DLS had outscored Xavs 29:22 into the wind and really had been marginally on top in general play since quarter time.
QTR 4
Xav’s lead was quickly extended to 37 points when Goss, who had been well held by Tom Humphrey, go an easy one over the top to kick his 3rd at the 4 minute mark. DLS was playing with great intensity as their place in Premier was definitely on the line. But 9 minutes elapsed before Jake Gotch & Matt Fieldsend combined to extract the footy from the tightly controlled pack to pass accurately to Luke Gogis, unmarked in the centre. 3 bounces and a controlled kick later and DLS had its 5th goal. Margin 31
Less than a minute later Jake Gotch hemmed in on the Dairy Bell flank found a way through to goal from a difficult angle, given the prevailing wind. Margin 25. Charlie Haley, wedged in on the opposite flank, mesmerised the Xav’s defenders, passed accurately to Mitch Carney who cooling kicked his 3rd & DLS’s 7th goal. Margin 19 points. Tom McMahon, Tim Kovess & Dan Close were dominating at centre bounces. David Lowe, Tom Moloney & Tom Humphrey thwarted any of the now rare Xav’s forward thrusts!
When Adrian Indovino kicked truly after roving the boundary throw in pack on the Dairy Bell flank, the margin was a gettable 13 points. DLS had kicked 4 goals in under 5 minutes and Xav’s looked disorganised!The McMahon, Kovess, Gotch combination provided Matt Moore, on the lead, with a great scoring opportunity from about 30 metres directly in front. He goaled. 5 goals in 6 minutes was fine reward for the DLS team but with 30 minutes played and the margin 7 points, DLS threw everything into the contest. A quick clearance resulted in a long shot from Liam Wood that just drifted off line for a behind.
Tom Humphrey took a screamer in front of the DLS fans in front of the pavilion and his long kick putting the ball deep into the DLS forward zone. An attempted clearing kick in the forward pocket by a Xavs defender toed the ball over the boundary. A long consultation between field, boundary & goal umpires resulted in a free to Charlie Haley. Hemmed in by Xavs defenders and DLS blockers, Haley’s difficult shot floated across the goal front and out of bounds in the opposite pocket. DLS won possession from the throw in but the centering kick was being contested as the siren sounded.
De La Salle 9.16.70
Old Xavs 10.16.76
Goal Kickers: M. Carney 3, A. Indovino 2, A. Kneebone , L. Gogis , M. Moore , J. Gotch
Best Players: , T. Humphrey , A. Indovino , L. Wood , T. Curry , D. Close , M. Carney
Reserves
De La Salle 3.1.19
Old Xavs 15.16.106
Goal Kickers: S. Hogan 2, S. Harrington
Best Players: , J. Mattiske , S. Hogan , J. Oakley , M. De Luca , J. Terrell , D. Millwood
19 Blues
Blues were away to Scotch this week in a game of 6th vs 5th. The games earlier this year had been close and all looked set for another good contest. The ground was in great condition, but unfortunately the wind was blowing a gale to the scoreboard end.
We lost the toss and were immediately under pressure to defend into the wind. Our back half line had been performing very well and over last few weeks and they needed to lift once again. Our boys worked hard to push Scotch wide and made it hard for them to score majors. Nic Halliday was playing behind the ball and taking a few telling marks. James Howard was again one of our best defenders holding out their attacks. Scotch scored 2 goals 13 and despite several good entries De La did not score.
2nd quarter needed De La to put on some scoreboard pressure. Scotty Vawser was looking very dangerous at the base of packs and kicked a good goal and Sef McGraw was winning at stoppages. Daggian from Scotch was giving us a lot of trouble down forward and James Dennehy moved back to help quell his goal kicking and started to get on top. De La scored 3 goals with Scotch the same.
At the break we asked our forwards to push up the ground and help our backs. Jack Gava moved onto the ball and we showed more pace around the ground. Matt Dumbleton was dominating thru the midfield and scored a couple of goals for the quarter. We scored 3 goals into the wind, but Scotch also put on 3. We were trailling by 4 goals going into final break.
Last quarter needed De La to take out all stops and the game was broken open with both teams hitting the contests and moving the ball around with a lot of speed. Our mid field looked good with Dave Commins taking some good marks and Matt Dumbleton again bursting forward to create attack opportunities We had 5 goal scorers for the quarter and gave ourselves every chance of winning, but Scotch were able to respond late with a few goals. Final scores saw De La lose by 4 goals.
De La Salle 11.7.73
Old Scotch 13.20.98
19 Golds
Report to follow
De La Salle 14.19.103
Monash Blues 7.8.50
Goal Kickers: T. Nicholls 4, J. Hanley 4, M. Laoumtzis 3, D. Kelly , J. Short , D. Cowan
Best Players: , S. Taranto , E. Avis , J. Hanley , T. Nicholls , H. Wardlaw , J. Short
Last Modified on 11/08/2014 18:32
