The St.Arnaud seniors had a day of celebration, with the
seniors winning their first game since late 2008 after rolling Charlton by a
massive 92 points. The saints led by Daniel Needs booting 9 goals, never looked
back as they silenced critics of last week’s disaster at Boort and answered the
prayers of so many supporters.
For the saints, Jacob Patching played his first game and
seemed to hold his own well in a much faster game, while Jesse Douglas lined up
for his 5oth senior game on the Pink Ribbon Weekend for Breast Cancer.
The saints dominated
from the start with the first goal to youngster Nick Baldwin, with the crowd
already celebrating, as they could feel the vibe of something special. The vibe
quickly became a reality with Lee Pollock producing a soccer goal to fire the
saints train engine. This train was
brought to a halt as Charlton kicked a couple of quick goals to level the
playing field back to square one. But with Adam Pollock and Austin Fithall
combining well at the centre bounce, the saints had the ball where they wanted
it. Wingman Dylan Pascoe got into the action with his first goal. Charlton had
many rebounding attacks, but with defenders such as Jesse Douglas, Daniel
Pickthall and Kurtis Torney running the ball out well, the navies had little
chance of scoring. Fithall joined the scoring chain with a goal, followed by
three Lee Pollock, Luke Soderman and Needs to finish a dominating quarter 5
goals ahead.
Quarter Time
St.Arnaud 7 7 49
Charlton 2 3 15
Charlton
scored the first goal through James Baird. Then the saints quickly reinforced
there strong lead with a goal to Mark Ciurleo. Needs followed up with his
second as the saints were doing well, causing many turnovers with great
pressure around the ball. Charlton were able to kick their second for the
quarter, but with the run created by the saints, the navies seemed to never be
in the quarter. Lee Pollock’s attacking pressure paid off as he intercepted a
kick in for his third. The forward combination of Lee Pollock and Needs was
working a treat as Needs kicked his third. Fithall got the crowd going with a
great speckie, but unfortunately was unable to finish with a goal as many
saints attacks were of this outcome. But they kept at it and sure enough the
rewards were on their way as Needs and Pascoe finished with the last two goals
to end the half ahead by 64 points.
Half Time
St.Arnaud 13 13 91
Charlton 4 3 27
The saints
may be renowned for their poor form in the third term over the last year, but
today was a different day with all players running in numbers and never giving
up. The determination and pressure was paying off as Needs quickly got the
saints scoring going. He then followed up with his second for the half and
sixth for the game. The saints fought hard for the ball at every contest, some
without reward, but they made sure the next reaped in rewards as Daniel
Griffith put another saints’ goal through the big sticks. But Charlton wasn’t
finished and didn’t want to give up. They replied with two quick goals to Marc
Cox and James Baird. This was followed by another Charlton goal for their third
in the term. A quick reply to Lee Pollock ended another fantastic quarter for
the saints with only more rewards to come in the last.
Three
Quarter Time
St.Arnaud 17 15 117
Charlton 7 4 46
To complete
a magnificent effort from all of the saints across the ground, they kept on
running and again started the scoring through Needs. He followed up shortly
after with his eighth as the margin further expanded. Cox put on another for
the navies, but it was only delaying the inevitable as the siren neared. The
performance never dropped off, with the saints playing out the whole game
exceptionally well as Pascoe kicked his third. Needs followed up with a stand
out performance of nine goals, as Ruckman Adam Pollock could only join in with
his first goal. Charlton managed another goal late but it showed little
importance to supporters. Within the saints players ‘the love’ was evident with
not one player goal hungry. Some may have even be surprised to see Needs pass
off to Ben Batters instead of the conventional shot for his tenth. But ‘the
love’ was there and Batters converted for the saints to finish the game
victors, 638 days after their last in 2008.
Full Time
St.Arnaud 23 20 158
Charlton 10 6 66
St Arnaud
Goal Kickers: D. Needs 9, L. Pollock 4, D.
Pascoe 3, L. Soderman , M. Ciurleo , D. Griffith , A. Fithall , B. Batters , N.
Baldwin , A. Pollock
Best Players: D. Needs, L. Pollock, D. Pickthall, K. Torney, D.
Gifford, A. Pollock
Charlton
Goal Kickers: M. Cox 3, L. Byrne 3, J. Baird 2,
A. Judd
Best Players: A. Judd, A. Mckenzie, D. Thiesz, L. Byrne, M. Cox, R.
Thompson
Last Modified on 10/05/2010 20:51