The Northern Knights scraped home in a four point victory against the bottom of the ladder North Ballarat Rebels. This was the fourth game of the season the Knights have been involved in where the margin was less than ten points - their record in these games is now 2-2.
It was an overcast day down at AUSTAR Arena in Ballarat with light rain on and off all day making the conditions difficult to play footy in. The Knights were fielding a relatively inexperienced side with Josh Merkel, Lee Santoro and Justin Banbury coming back into the side with Jamie Craker playing his first game of the season and Joe Palazzolo making his debut.
The Rebels got the jump in the first quarter, outscoring the Knights three goals to one. North Ballarat were getting to the ball first and winning ground level contests. The Knights, on the other hand, were not dealing particularly well with the conditions and were chasing tail for most of the first. Their lone goal in the opening term came from midfielder Adrian Totino.
Goals continued to be a rarity in the second quarter, with only one scored between the two teams. Michael Hurley was the only player to kick truly for the term, which left the half time score at 3.4.22 to 2.5.17 - a score line that definitely reflected the slippery and boggy conditions.
Palazzolo gave the team a spark coming on in the second quarter, particularly with his willingness to put his body on the line. Matt Kreuzer was continuing his good run of form and despite the wet conditions the big man was clean at ground level, while Hurley was providing a solid target up forward.
The third term didn't exactly see the game open up, but then again, at no stage was it threatening to do so. It did, however, see the Knights take the lead for the first time in the game with a two goals to one quarter. Pece Micevski and Nyaburu Kelly were the goal scorers and the margin was only three points in the Knights' favour heading into the last.
Micevski extended the lead with his second goal early in the final quarter after some nice crumbing, but the Rebels responded around the ten minute mark of the quarter. It was a tight and tense battle, with every goal meaning so much so when the Rebels goaled again it was a nervous Knights camp. However, N.Kelly nabbed his second of the game some three minutes later to give the lead back to the Knights.
The dying stages of the game saw both teams with chances to win it, but neither could break through for one final goal, which saw the Knights hold off for a gritty four point win against a highly competitive Rebels outfit.
Kreuzer maintained his dominant display and was one of the Knights' best players. Palazzolo's debut was very encouraging and his tenacity at the contests were particularly valuable on such an unpleasant day. The goals from Micevski and N.Kelly were obviously crucial in such a low scoring affair. In a game where there were not many individual stand out performances, Ben Power played his best game of the season, providing adequate support for Kreuzer, while Adam Woodhams played a handy rebounding role in defence.
Northern Knights 6.11.47 def. North Ballarat Rebels 6.7.43
Goals: Micevski, N.Kelly 2, Totino, Hurley 1.
Bests: Kreuzer, Hurley, Palazzolo, Power, Woodhams, N.Kelly
Last Modified on 30/03/2008 18:19