Match report for 11/4/2015, Division 3, Bendigo vs Williamstown
The first game for 2015. Hoping for a fixture draw to ease us into the season, instead, our opening round saw us travel to Greenwich Reserve, a maritime setting in a nice part of Williamstown, where we were greeted by a young Williamstown side, spearheaded by ex-Australian player Darren Gibson. Not an entirely happy prospect. The Warhawks managed to field 12 players, while Williamstown had a full 16.
Much of the game was basically a master-class by Gibson (and his son) on how to score goals, though I believe the Willy side will be less than happy with the final margin....
Bendigo had plenty of possession up front to start and were able to win the centre often, but with the omission of key midfielders, could not settle the ball early. However, the Warhawks were first to score, with a dashing goal to Mark “Wookie” Reader from a trademark run from defence. I can report that the Williamstown defence were very sour about that opening goal, and the Willy forwards responded quickly and had 4 goals to 1 going to the first break.
The second quarter had the Warhawks unable to score, though there were a number of good shots. Williamstown put on another 5 goals, to make the half time score 9 to 1.
The third term saw the Williamstown side continue to score steadily, but they also had many attempts blunted by a great defensive effort from Bendigo, especially some great saves from Gino Iuliano in goals. The Bendigo midfield’s lack of numbers of experienced personnel meant that by necessity, transition from defence tended to be either by a running defender into the forward line, or by a long pass from Gino to a leading forward, which is always a fairly low percentage option. When Bendigo had the ball, there was reasonable movement, but inability to run practiced plays meant that scoring opportunities were rare. Alex Orr scored one goal from a good pass, but otherwise the Warhawks went scoreless. We went to the final quarter with the score at 14 to 2.
As so often happens with the Bendigo club, just as an opposition thinks we will lie down and the final quarter will be a goal fest for them, they instead find that the Warhawk defence will NOT let up and that the team overall will NOT lose heart. The Williamstown lacrosse clinic ended at three-quarter time, and they were only able to add two more goals in the final quarter, matched by two from Bendigo: Ian Lock scored a nice goal from good forward play and Jarrod Topp-Lowe, ignoring all pleas to pass off, beat the goalie with a shot after a solo run out of defence, giving him his first ever score. Well done! As celebrations moved up-field, a rueful Willy goalie muttered, “Well, I’ve made his day”, to which I said, “You’ve made his career”.
The final score was 16 – 4, and I think that with the absence of so many players and the quality of the opposition they faced, the Bendigo side can be very happy with being able to keep Willy to that.
The 3 club votes and 2 Association votes went to Alex Orr, for a typically gutsy effort, all over the ground; 2 votes to Russ Croft for (along with Brett Ruiz) matching the Willy centres in the middle and providing opportunities for Bendigo to go forward and one to Tim Davis for great endeavour around the ground, after a long absence.
Our next game is against Eltham at Maiden Gully, Bendigo.
John Webb
Last Modified on 16/04/2015 17:10