Vales' finals hopes slipping away
Chris Vernuccio
25Jun07
DONVALE'S finals hopes were dealt another blow after a soul-destroying 38-point loss to Blackburn on Saturday.
The Vales slumped to their fourth loss in five matches in EFL Division 1 following the 18.23 (131) to 14.9 (93) result.
Donvale led by 20 points at quarter-time but surrendered thereafter.
The home side booted six goals in the first quarter but kicked only eight for the remainder of the game.
Vales coach Scott Grigg lamented skill errors, poor decision-making and Blackburn's increased intensity after the first break.
``Our decision-making was down, our skills were down and our work rate was down, especially after quarter-time,'' Grigg said.
``We weren't winning enough of the ball but, when we did, we just continued to just kick to contests and Blackburn was just winning most of the clearances from the contests.
``The instruction was to try and kick it to one-on-one contests rather than three-on-three and the boys just failed to carry out instructions. Blackburn started to increase their work rate around the stoppages and they were winning most clearances, getting their hands first to the ball using it more cleanly.''
Forward Donato Deangelis was the only shining light for the Vales and was shifted into midfield to spark his team.
Grigg was disappointed with the output of his senior players, with the workload left to under-18 players Daniel Mead and Tom Sheldon.
Last Modified on 28/06/2007 21:22