It was a day of quality football at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval on Saturday when the North Ballarat Rebels played game one in a triple header treat in the TAC Cup competition against the Gippsland Power.
Ryan McKenzie opened the scoring after receiving a 50 metre penalty in the first minute followed by Tim Ruffles with another before the Power had time to settle.
Loose checking across half back let Gippsland in for their first before Ben Peters, Ruffles and Bryn Weadon capitalised on a winning ruck division and strong play from the North Ballarat on-ball division.
Two late goals just before the siren kept the Power in touch as both sides enjoyed the perfect ground and weather conditions.
The second term was almost a repeat of the first as Ruffles with two and McKenzie added to their tally. Gippsland then booted their first for the period before first gamer Matthew Cranage, off the interchange bench, chipped in for two of his own.
Again it was in the dying moments of the quarter that two goals to the Power kept them in contact with a Rebels team that had control of the game, much due to the play of Hooper at half back and Josh Free around the ground.
It was a different Gippsland side that came out after half time as three goals in the first five minutes had North Ballarat under pressure and it took a determined effort from the back line led by Hooper and Alex Gubbins along with Josh Cowan and Weadon to settle the side mid-term. Up forward Ruffles was proving elusive and kicked his fifth.
Almost on schedule the Pioneers kicked two late goals to put their nose in front for the first time and set up an interesting final term.
Coach Chris Maple stressed to his players that this was a great opportunity to stand up and make a statement to the rest of the competition and his team did just that with goals from Will Young, Hooper and Cranage in the opening few minutes to wrest back the initiative.
Two mid-term goals for Gippsland closed the gap but the Rebels held on despite a couple of late defensive errors to win a highly entertaining game of football.
North Ballarat Rebels 14.11 (95) defeated Gippsland Power 13.10 (88)
Best: Andrew Hooper, Bryn Weadon, Tim Ruffles, Josh Free, Alex Gubbins, Josh Cowan.
Goals: Tim Ruffles 5, Matthew Cranage 3, Ryan McKenzie 2, Andrew Hooper 1, Ben Peters 1, Bryn Weadon 1, Will Young 1.
Last Modified on 08/02/2009 14:52