The Dandenong Southern Stingrays bounced back from a disappointing loss to clinch a hard fought 32 point win against the reigning premiers, the Murray Bushrangers with a late surge that saw the Stingrays remain firmly entrenched in the top four of the TAC Cup.
The Stingrays made 5 changes to their side bringing in Ben Wragg, Matt Clifford, Brock Osborne, Brad Tagg and Rohan Bleeker to try and generate a bit of run and an improvement in the 1%er side of the teams performance, two facets sadly lacking last week. Kicking with the aid of a very slight breeze, it was the Stingrays who troubled the scorer early in the game and quickly skipped out to as 3 goal lead only to have the flow of the game turn to the Bushrangers late in the term. Costly misses by the Bushrangers key forwards kept the Stingrays noses in front by 15 points at ¼ time.
The second term was all the Bushrangers and they missed a golden opportunity to shut the Stingrays out of the contest. Four goals four for the Bushrangers could have been a lot more as they wasted a number of scoring chances. Gun forward Jake Loraine was troubling Stefan Baumgartner with his speed and strong marking and supply from the Bushrangers mid field was precise and plentiful. Only the defensive rebounding of Jarryd Amalfi and James Hallahan and the hard work of Madison Andrews kept the Stingrays in the contest and as close as the 11 points in arrears at the long break.
At half time the Stingrays Coach Graeme Yeats reshuffled his team to good effect as the Stingrays closed the gap then took a slight lead only to once again see the momentum switch the way of the Bushrangers. More poor kicking kept the Stingrays close and the Bushrangers 4 point ¾ time lead should have been much more.
Amalfi switched onto Loraine which freed up Baumgartner to become creative. The size and strength of Stingrays key forwards Levi Casboult and Myles Pitt was eventually going to create a headache for the undersized Bushrangers defenders who, led by Brad Mangan were manful in their efforts against the odds.
The final term was all Stingrays as Will Petropolous continued to shut out Morrish medalist Farran Priest, Ryan Bastinac and Andrews took control of the stoppages and Riley Heddles tireless work at half forward was finally rewarded with some Stingrays scoring. Pitt kick 4 last term goals when he finally shook the Mangan smother and Casboult added his 4th for the game as the Stingrays kicked 7 goals to 1 to take the points back to Dandenong.
Next weekend is a TAC Cup bye followed by the Stingrays last home game for the year when the take on neighboring and in form rivals the Gippsland Power at Shepley Oval, Dandenong on Saturday 15th August. The game starts at 2.00pm and entry is free.
Last Modified on 03/08/2009 14:01