Out to atone for last week's fade-out against Balwyn, Norwood began well against Knox at Mullum Reserve. With Skayve Johnson and Matt McCormack lively across half forward, Norwood held sway against Knox, who were once again keen to employ a 'flood', pouring all their numbers behind the ball and making it difficult to score. At 1/4 time we held a narrow lead, 2.1 - 1.3.
The 2nd quarter was by far Norwood's best. We dominated in the centre through Clayts and Monky, while Ev and Stuey Hill were unpassable in defence. We scored three goals for the quarter and held Knox to just a single point, so at half time we held a commanding lead, 5.4 - 1.4 in a low scoring dogfight.
We opened up with an early goal to Kris Nye in the 3rd quarter to stretch the lead to 30 points, and it looked "how far Norwood". However, no sooner had that thought surfaced, that the game started to change. Whether we relaxed, or perhaps were running out of steam from constantly trying to run through the Knox flood, but Knox began to find more of the ball, and our run, so vital to beating the tactic, began to dry up. 2 Knox goals were answered by just one for us, so at 3qtr time we still held what appeared a commanding lead of 21 pts, 7.5.47 to 3.8.26 and the alarm bells were still on hold.
But they were ringing loud and strong very early in the last quarter. Revitalised by their improved efforts in the 3rd qtr, Knox were everywhere, controlling the play. We were unable to make any significant impact on the scoreboard, and 2 goals to Knox by the 15minute mark had us leading by just 8 points, with still plenty of time to play. Stuey Hill and Brent English had erected a 2 man wall deep in defence and were doing their level best to keep Knox at bay. Without these two we would surely have lost, as many others were out on their feet in the face of the Knox onslaught. Knox scored again to reduce the margin to just a single point, and looked sure to win, but repeated brave efforts for the last few minutes ensured that we kept the lead, the siren sounding with our boys hanging on for the slenderest of wins. 7.7.49 - 6.12.48
Clayts, Stuey, Brenter, Fordy, Skayve and Monky were all amongst the best, their leadership when the going got tough was pivotal in securing the win when so easily it could have gone the other way. This may not have been the most memorable of wins - “champagne football” would not be a phrase to describe this game,but it was indeed a meritorious win, and a vital one at that. It improves us to a 3-1 win/loss record and we sit 4th on the ladder. We host newly promoted Lilydale in a rare ‘back-to-back’ home game scenario, so we have an excellent opportunity to improve our record further, keep our unbeaten home record intact and retain our spot in the top 5. In other games the 2nds were beaten by 4 goals while the colts had a monster win, kicking 19.16 while holding Knox to just 1.8..
Go Wooders.
Last Modified on 04/06/2012 17:00