The Dandenong Southern Stingrays consolidated 2nd spot on the TAC Cup ladder with a surprisingly easy 10 goal win against 3rd placed North Ballarat Rebels at Shepley Oval, Dandenong, in the Round 15 TAC Cup clash last Saturday.
With the northerly howling straight down towards the creek, it was the visiting Rebels who had first use of its 6 goal advantage. Strong work through the midfield along with some desperate defending saw the Stingrays only 11 points down at the first break. A goal from livewire small forward Rohan Kerr culminated from 10 minutes of pressure football by the Stingrays into the wind and set the scene for the rest of the contest.
The second term could have been so much more productive for the Stingrays but for many wasted opportunities and some dour defence from the Rebels. The Stingrays over-possessed the ball and missed a lot of set shots to reap 3 goals and 6 behinds for the term and the Rebels managed one goal into the wind. The six point buffer in favour of the Stingrays should have been more like 4-5 goals such was the control of possession by the Stingrays. The Stingrays were managing to control the key play makers of the Rebels with Andrew McInnes doing a fine job of minding Rebels and Vic Country key forward David Astbury and the combination of Madison Andrews on ball and Riley Heddles in the back line shut down Larke medalist, All Australian Under 18 and Vic Country captain Andrew Hooper.
The third term was where the Stingrays converted hard work and possession into scores when they completely blanketed the Rebels. Kicking into a strengthening wind, the Stingrays rallied after the Rebels kicked 2 early goals to post 4 goals of their own. Levi Casboult and Matt Shaw turned on a show in the forwardline and Luke Parker relished the freedom of the Wing to shut the Rebels out of the game. The last term was a bit of a procession with the Stingrays piling on 8-8 to the Rebels 2 goals to run out 61 point winners. Coach Graeme Yeast was very pleased with the efforts of his players. Contributions from every player and the inclusion of 17 year old Brock Osborne and 16 year old Adam Treloar tasting victory in their first TAC Cup game.
Next Saturday, July 25th is a top of the table clash with the Stingrays travelling to Kardinia Park, Geelong to tackle the standout league leaders, the Geelong Falcons. The game starts at 1.00pm and entry is free.
Last Modified on 19/07/2009 19:45