The Dandenong Southern Stingrays recorded their fifth win in a row with and 9th from 11 games to move to second on the TAC Cup ladder with a hard fought four point win over local rivals, the Gippsland Power at Casey Fields in the Round 16 TAC Cup clash last Sunday. The Stingrays were forced to make late changes when Aaron Purves and Scott Sienkiewicz were withdrawals and played U16 Luke Parker from Langwarrin in his first game of TAC Cup football.
The was incredibly close form first bounce to the final siren with neither team able to break away and control the game. The Power kicked straight early to have the first three goals on the board but the Stingrays answered with goals to Chris Doria, Ricky Ferraro and Tom Scully and a late major to the Power had them in front by that late goal at the first break. Levi Casboult was well on top in the Ruck contests and took some tellingmarks around the ground. Ben Wragg at half back won plenty of the ball only to undo his good work with some skill errors. Tom Scully and Matt Clark showed good touch on-ball and up forward and were better following last weeks game after long layoffs from TAC Cup footy.
The second term was another close one with the Stingrays narrowing the margin to a solitary point at half time, outscoring the Power 4-2 to 3-3. Both teams played open and expansive football and the ball moved from end to end at breakneck speed. Both teams tall forwards were struggling to impact the game and it was the small forwards and on-ballers who did most of the scoring. The Stingrays backline was holding up under heavy pressure with the reliable Tom Gillies, Michael Hibberd, Paul Rogasch and James Hallahan all matching their direct opponents in their 1 on 1 contests and rebounding the ball out of trouble.
The third quarter saw the Stingrays slip in front of the Power outscoring them 3-2 to 2-4 to take a 3 point lead into the last break. Once again the defenders were winning the day for both teams and scoring was usually done on the counter attack. Hallahan’s rebound resulted in a goal from half back and crumbing goals from Madison Andrews and Clark had the Stingrays slightly ahead. Shane Savage continued his run of excellent form with another fine display on the Wing and Riley Heddles was back to his industrious best in the midfield.
The last quarter was a cracker with both teams having ample opportunity to close out the game. Several misses from close range showed the pressure was getting to all the players and both teams played to a standstill. Late in the term the Power had the lead but a crucial contest where Savage won against two Power opponents and kicked to Clark who then found Ryan Bastinac 35m out on a slight angle. Bastinac kicked truly and the Stingrays had the lead with a nail biting 4 minutes to go. Ashley Smith had an excellent last term with 11 possessions across half back and along with Gillies, Hibberd and some desperate mid fielders the Stingrays held on prevail in a high paced, high quality game of TAC Cup football.
Next weekend the Stingrays have a travel to Wangaratta on Saturday in a “top of the table” clash against runaway ladder leaders the Murray Bushrangers.
The Bushrangers have only lost two games for the entire season, notably one of those losses was at
the hands of the Stingrays in Round 5.
Last Modified on 18/08/2008 20:08