After some easy wins to start the year, everyone would get a guage on how they were going as they played their last grading game against Alex Hills, a team they have struggled against over the past couple of years.
With about a 2 goal breeze blowing down the ground, Lincoln won the toss and elected to take first use of the wind. An even competitive start from both teams saw the ball going back and forth down the ground before some strong play by Duck saw him earn a free kick in front of goal and kick and the first major for the day. Some strong work across half back by Sam was keeping Alex Hills at bay and a great snap by Jake saw the boys with a handy two goal lead at quarter time. With Alex Hills kicking with the breeze in the second quarter it was important that the boys stood up. A quick clearance from the middle at the start of the quarter saw Alex Hills get a quick goal and a couple of minutes later they had another to tie things up in the lead. With Alex standing tall at CHB the defence held together and Alex Hills couldn't kick another goal for the quarter and went in at half time leading only by a couple of points. Jordan was playing well across the midfield and Jayden was having a great game on the wing creating numerous opportunities.
Derek was happy with the boys performance to date and said their ball movement was as good as it has ever been. It was important though that the boys converted their opportunities in the third quarter. The last disposal was missing its target and Alex Hills were able to rebound from their half back line too easily. Even though they kicked against the breeeze in the second quarter, they had numerous opportunities in their forward 50 and it was important they converted those.
The third quarter started as an arm wrestle and Alex Hills realised that for the first time in a long time, this Springwood side was giving them a contest. Both teams were hard at the ball and the ball went from one end to the other. Again the boys had numerous opprotunities but were unable to convert forward pressure onto the scoreboard.
The last quarter started with the boys a couple of goals behind. A strong mark and goal by Nathan gave the boys some hope, but slowly the execution levels started to drop as the boys tired. Whilst the effort was there, they were unable to compete at the same level. they were struggling to get the ball past the centre of the ground from defence and a couple of goals to Alex Hills pushed the final margin out to what did not accurately reflect the closeness of the game.
Overall it has been a couple of good games from the boys over the past few weeks and things look good that they will be competitive this year.
Last Modified on 19/04/2010 07:48