Despite playing on a long-weekend Monday at Woy Woy's Roger's Park, the Newcastle City Blues just fell short in their quest to cement 2nd spot on the ladder in their Round 11 match against Terrigal.
A superb first quarter effort led to a handy 14-point break at the first change with Kemp, Knight, Burke and Cotter winning more than their fair share of the ball and the Blues were looking dangerous.
The Terrigal midfield started to get on top in the second quarter with a five goal to two quarter giving the Panthers the ascendancy at half time with a handy 3 point buffer.
Coach Burns didn't panic at half time and called for his boys to lift around the packs and play some tight man-on-man football in the third quarter.
Obviously the team were either too dreary from the long weekend's festivities or they simply didn't listen to the message being delivered as time and time again the dangerous half-back line of Terrigal found themselves with room to move and springboard the ball into their dangerous two pronged forward-line where the bigger bodies of Goolagong and McCann were able to outmuscle our undersized back men.
Terrigal's remarkable accuracy in front of goal flattered the score line at three quarter time but with an eight point lead and the wind in the last quarter they were certainly in the box seat.
It all came down to a torrid final quarter with the lead changing several times before some undisciplined play proved costly to see the Blues go down by seven points in the sides most disappointing loss of the season.
Despite the doom and gloom there were certainly some pleasing aspects to the match with Luke McMahon, Michael Kemp, Tim Cotter and Courtney Knight all showing some great fighting spirit throughout the day.
We now await an undefeated Cardiff outfit who will be fresh from their "apparently soaked" Billy Elliot Oval long weekend lay-off with a night game at No. 1 Sportsground looming as a super match-up and a real test for the Blues.
In other matches the Blues First Division side were far too good for Terrigal all over the ground with a 58-point win well deserved for a great team effort. Fitzhenry again proved dangerous up forward and kicked another bag of five and was well supported by the enigmatic Harro with three and the ever consistent Azza who kicked another two.
Wheels was again unstoppable with a BOG performance, well supported by Disco Duggo in the ruck, Nathan Stewart, Benny, Leaping Al Boland and Jay Mitchell.
The First Division side takes on Cardiff again on Saturday in a twilight match at No. 1 and the boys will be looking to serve up the same sort of performance they did four weeks ago when they ran out solid 22-point winners.
The most enjoyable game all day was again the Under 18's match against a pumped up Terrigal side with the Junior Blues coming up with a fantastic 43-point victory.
A number of highlights in the match which was played in a fierce but fair manner with the Blues not losing their focus or taking a backward step in a great team effort from everyone.
Beary Junior was in great form in front of the big sticks finishing with six "hello daddies", Matthew Bailey kicked three and Richard Antney, Kris Wozniak and Justin Humphries kicking one apiece.
Liam Keith played a fantastic game in the centre along with the rapidly improving Kris Wozniak, the ever-reliable Hayden Kavanagh, the dashing Tim Kemp, the affable Justin Humphries and the new start recruit and TRUE BLUE favourite Elliot Jay who played a fantastic game in only his second outing for the Blues.
The Blues now sit comfortably in third position on the ladder with a big win against a down-on-form Cardiff side just the ticket to catapult the team into a top two position.
Thanks as always to everyone who helped out on the weekend and we hope to see a bumper crowd on hand this Saturday down at No.1 to cheer the boys on against our arch-rivals the Billy Elliot Beetroots.
Last Modified on 02/11/2006 14:34