Here is my match report. It will not be as crafted as John Webb’s brilliant reports of yester year.
It was an overcast and gloomy morning. However, by the time our Bendigo players arrived at Melbourne Uni’s Western Oval, it was a glorious sunny but cool day and idea lacrosse weather. MCC/Bendigo was playing Melb Uni/Brunswick.
It just happened that MCC Div 1 played their game prior to our Div 3 game, which allowed our boys to be introduced to the MCC Div 3 teammates and Coach Adam Burrowes.
Bendigo had supplied a Scorer (Ian Lock) and a Manager (Gino Iuliano - until he is sacked by coach for over exuberance), however both will play if there is a shortage of players.
We had initially thought that were would have 18 players (determined at Team Selection on Thursday night), but Ritchie Savage, the experienced goal tenderer was injured, Russell Crofts had car problems and Gino managed the bench, it resulted with us having 15 players with 5 on the bench. This was a far cry from past years. MUB had 12 players initially.
The coach decided that he would have 2 midfield strings, first and second stings containing two middies and centre players, with a short and long stick substitutes. The defence unit was all Bendigo players: Mike Bell, Jordan O’Meara, Tim Davis, and Jarrod Topp-Lowe (who ran on and off the bench but had the final quarter on the field, which allowed Tim to play on the midfield strings).
The match started and it was chaos. The coach was also new to MCC players not to mention Bendigo players. The manager had to inform the coach who was who. Who was cutting, who had the ball, etc, etc. However, the coach seemed to be relaxed and took everything in his stride. The manager did stuff up the strings initially but got them back in order within a quarter or so. The most important thing was the players were readily listening and adhering to coach’s instruction. The players were huffing and puffing but had big smiles on their faces as the game progressed.
The team played well in the first quarter with scores having MCCBendigo leading MUB 4 goals to 2. With goals from Barry Nugent, Tim Davis, and Andrew Tratt. Tim Davis had a memorable goal, swooping on a ground ball in front of goal and running the field to score. He was pumped!
The MUB approached our coach to request quarters to be shorted to 15 minutes as they had lost a couple of players due to injury and had no bench. We obliged as we knew what it was like to have no one on the bench!
The second quarter was better than the first as the team restricted the opposition to one goal and scored three themselves. The scorers were Alex Orr and Barry Nugent. The third was a repetition of the second but Dylan LeClerrq scored twice whilst Alex bagged another. The midfield strings were working a treat and our defence was as solid as a rock. All three Bendigo boys in defence when given the opportunity to swoop onto ground balls and sprint to our forward half to create havoc. It was a fantastic sight! The team’s goal tenderer was Frank EcKhof, a 16-year-old teammate of Matt Saxon and Christian Iuliano, when playing in the juniors. The Bendigo boys made Frank feel at easy with their “you need to pass us first” attitude.
Matt Saxon and Pat Guan were rotating in the centre as well as midfield lines. They were tenacious with their second and third efforts. Their senior center/face-off teammate Joel Spiteri had won most of the centres and contributed in attack and man up plays. Tim Anastasi and Ron Lowe had given their all in the midfield position swooping up on ground ball out of the centre. Matt Mellor, known as Bluey, was brilliant with 6 assists feeding our scorers when they bobbed up in front of goal.
The final quarter was a very pleasant surprise. It was a shut out with MCCBendigo scoring 7 goals to zip.
The coach praised the team for their win but did mention there were improvements to be made. I though the team played well and gelled quiet well. We will enjoy this win and get ready for Altona next week, who had a convincing win over Camberwell.
Scorers: 4 B Nugent and A Orr, 3 D LeClerq and A Tratt,2 J Spiteri, 1 T Davis
Votes: A Tratt, M Mellor A Orr
Scribe
Gino Iuliano
Last Modified on 20/04/2021 15:21