The long drive to Eltham was pleasant in cloudless sunshine, but things changed as we prepared for the game and by the start of the match, persistent light rain set the scene for the rest of the afternoon. The ground was heavy, with long grass and slippery mud at the Main Rd end. But then, it wouldn’t be Eltham without the mud; even in early May.
Both teams began with eleven players and the Eltham team looked very much depleted from the team that beat us royally the year before, who then went on to win the division grand final. I overheard someone say that one player was playing his third ever game. The Bendigo line-up also lacked a number of key players.
The first quarter had both teams looking very even and we began to think that the game was very winnable. The Warhawks were able to score twice in the period, once through Alex Orr and again through a contested ball** being won by Ian Lock and cleanly finished off with a good shot. Eltham could only manage one goal.
In the second quarter, Alex Orr scored again (sorry Al, I can’t picture your goals, I’ll just have to say they were nice, which they generally are) and a beauty from Ty Griffin who took a high pass cleanly in front of goals and converted it neatly into to a successful shot; getting dumped in the mud for his trouble. The stickwork from the Warhawks was looking better this week, but our movement off the ball wasn’t so good, with the older chaps finding the going slow in the muck. However, we had plenty of shots and looked much better with backing up shots behind goals. Eltham got three goals and we went to half time at four all.
Eltham stepped up their play a notch after half time, and held possession much better, but were kept to long shots mainly by good Bendigo defence. The Bendigo forward line struggled to settle the ball and looked rushed, which caused turnovers and with tiring Warhawk legs, more opportunity for Eltham to score. Vince Fitzpatrick got a heavy knock and while he pluckily elected to play on, was obviously feeling no/little discomfort. Thanks for plugging on Vince, we “senior” players rely on your run. There were two goals for the quarter for Bendigo. One came again from Alex Orr (sorry mate, I’m sure it was astounding, but I simply can’t remember) and Russell Crofts pumped in a beauty on the crease with the combination of quick hands and a solid immovable base, off a nice sharp pass. Despite good goal tending by Gino Iuliano, Eltham found the net four times and the margin had snuck out to 8 to 6 going into the last quarter.
The last quarter saw Eltham continue their scoring with another four goals, while a single for Bendigo came from a distinctive solo drive on goal by Mark Reader, swatting away opposition like so many blowflies. The final score was 12 to 7 and that’s a really promising result. We should look forward to playing Eltham for the Webb Family Cup at home in July. Hmm, yes, I say ‘we’, but I’m afraid I won’t be there for that game, so win it for me, boys!
Votes went to Alex Orr (3 Club and 2 Association) for his usual vigour and dominance all over the field and for three indescribable, but nonetheless sparkling goals and an assist. Two Club votes went to Mark Reader for solid defence and his ability to find the goal when scoring on the forward line has dried up. One vote went to James Dawson for great work on the midfield and tireless running on a heavy track. Actually, it wasn’t tireless, he was stuffed; but just kept going!
Next week we play Altona at Bendigo, and we should be able to not only win that, but also work up our forward play. Let’s get everyone to training. See you there.
John Webb, Senior Player
**This is a polite way of saying “a ball that was the result of a long, lazy speculative pass from John Webb that was a result of him being too old to run the field and it was just lucky that Ian managed to get hold of it, because it deserved bloody nothing”.
Last Modified on 08/05/2017 13:48