On Sunday 2nd August the Northern Knights hosted the Oakleigh chargers at Preston City Oval. The match began in near perfect conditions with a light breeze just starting to blow across the ground. As the first quarter continued the breeze stiffened and made goal kicking more difficult. The Knights made a brisk start with two early goals from Michael Tilmouth-Turner before the Chargers answered with two of their own. A Liam McVeigh snap hit the post but his next attempt went through to give the Knights a seven point lead at quarter time. Oakleigh got on top around the stoppages and in general play in the second quarter and began to put some scoreboard pressure on Northern. Goal through Ercolano and then Fiorini late in the term kept the Knights within touch at the main change trailing by 13 points. A spirited Knights team came out after half time however inaccuracy in front of goal cost them a chance of gaining a substantial lead. Northern were only able to score two goals from eight shots in the quarter while holding the Chargers goalless at the other end. Unfortunately the Knights failure to capitalise in the third term came back to haunt them in the final quarter as Oakleigh began to fight back. Goals through Malone & Gresham kept the Knights in the contest right up until the final siren although they eventually went down by nine points.
Mason Blakey played a great game in defence for the Knights gathering 10 intercept possessions and setting up a number of Northern attacking plays. Brayden Fiorini and Michael Mattingly were very good through the midfield along with Darcy Macpherson. Jade Gresham looked dangerous up forward as did Kieran Malone and both finished with two goals for their efforts.
This weekend is a TAC Cup bye so the Northern Knights next assignment is on Saturday 15th August against the Geelong Falcons at Simonds Stadium.
Last Modified on 03/08/2015 17:01