Renovations are now well and truly underway at Mont. The pavilion is fenced off, there is limited power available to use and the only toilets available are in the public block at the back of the pavilion. The Canteen was set up outdoors under a marque and the bar didn’t fare much better, but all these difficulties faded into oblivion when compared to the mission to defeat arch enemy Greensborough.
The day started with winter sunshine, and compared to the bitterly cold and frosty mornings we had all week prior to the game, the day was like a summer party. The morning was so nice that if Zac had been there he would have been in shorts and thongs, but then I am sure he is wearing his thongs now as he treks the Kokoda Track.
The day didn’t start well for the club as the U/19’s couldn’t kick a goal. At one stage they had a score line of 1 11 17, as they just couldn’t put any scoreboard pressure on the Boro. Needless to say they didn’t win the game on the scoreboard, but the game was a lot more even than that. Unlucky, but the season is not even half way through and there is time to regroup. Better luck next week.
The reserve side was coming up against a Boro side that had lost only two games thus far, but then the Boro were coming up against an undefeated Mont side. The game promised to be tough and as the crowd built up during the game, there was no doubt the atmosphere was building. Mont got off to a flier kicking 5 goals to none in the first quarter and there was no looking back from there. Hussey kicked seven goals and he along with Scott Pepyat and Aaron Burns were best on ground in a 33 points victory.
By the time the senior game started the sky was overcast in black clouds and the promised sunshine was gone. The crowd had built up all around the ground and had managed to squeeze where ever they could around the pavilion to give the impression of a “full house”. The hills behind both goals were standing room only and on “Can Hill” the bar was busy all day. This was going to be a big day both on and off the ground.
Greensborough although only having won two games for the year, always come up against Mont with a “take no prisoners” attitude. Even in today’s football record the Boro make a reference to an infamous incident 10 years ago, referred to the “deck chairs” incident. Wind back 10 years and Mont were struggling to win a game away from home and Boro were up near the top of the ladder. In the footy record that day, Boro had written that the Boro back line would need to put up deck chairs as the ball wouldn’t be coming down there. Needless to say this fired up an insulted Mont and we smashed the Boro that day. Obviously the Boro don’t learn from the past, and the reference in today’s record “we may need to bring out the deck chairs”, while not firing up the players this time as we are the dominant side, certainly made those that remember 10 years ago laugh but also wanting to see green blood.
The game got off to a very scrappy and slow start with the umpire throwing the ball up three times in the first minute with the ball not moving out of the centre square. When the play finally started to flow it was mostly around the pavilion side of the ground and hugged the boundary line. For the first five minutes neither team managed to take the ascendancy as the stop start game certainly didn’t suit Mont. Greensborough finally managed to break the Mont defence and from a boundary throw in deep in their forward pocket slammed home the games opening goal. A minute later the Boro had a second goal with a mark inside the 50m and they were off to a flier as they took first blood.
Mont needed to respond but just couldn’t kick a goal. After several missed opportunities Jonathon Byron running from the half back line found Brett Hayes on a long lead. Hayes had marked on the boundary line 45 meters from goal and his kick sailed through the middle. At last Mont had a goal, but more than half the quarter was over.
The time clock had gone over 15 minutes and Mont had edged to within a point of the Boro. Mont’s seven shots on goal had been wasted while the Boro with only 3 shots on goal had not surrendered the lead. Mont finally took the lead when last weeks hero Jarrod McGough blind turned out of the pack to pass to Derryn Stanley in the goal square and the resultant goal put Mont 4 points up. The Mont supporters were beginning to feel balance in the universe again and wanted more, it was the Boro supporters that got the satisfaction as the green machine answered the Mont goal within a minute to take back the lead. With the quarter time siren Greensborough had a 3 points lead and smiles on their faces.
Mont 2 6 18 Greensborough 3 3 21
With Mont wanting to wipe the smiles off the Boro supporters, the second quarter sparked into gear only to see the Boro smiles turn into very loud support for a team that was playing well. The ball spent most of the opening minutes in the Boro forward line as Mont struggled to contain the wave of green that kept bringing the ball towards goal. But like Mont in the first quarter, the Boro just couldn’t score a goal. It took a free kick 20m out in front of goal for Boro to get the deserved goal and Mont had slipped 11 points behind with no real showing as to how they were going to peg back the lead. After some more missed opportunities on goal that had taken the lead to 13 points, from the goal square kick in, Daniel Sage kicked the ball past the centre to find Brent Gutterson who ran 10m and slammed through a long bomb against the run of play. Mont was back or so it seemed.
Mont had worked its way back into the game and was an even goal behind when what can only be described as 2 minutes of madness descended on the ground. Greensborough in the space of 2 minutes slammed on three goals in pure running football that belied their lowly place on the ladder. The lead had blown out to 24 points with 10 minutes left till half time and all the indicators said that it was going to be a long day if you were a Mont supporter. The Boro crowd was loud and proud and some of the Boro players were also letting the large Mont crowd know how much they enjoyed being in front on the scoreboard. It seemed the Mont machine had ground to a stop and we were all wondering where the game was going.
As pumped up as Greensborough was, as loud as their crowd could be, one thing could not be denied, and that is Mont is a quality outfit that will never say die, especially against the green slime. The Mont players needed to lift their work rate and play the “Mont” game that has won them the last six games in a row. The spark came from the half back line and mid field where players like Mark McGough, Daniel Keenan, Ben Finnan, Jake Whitling and Daniel Sage seemed to be everywhere and were able to dominate their Greensborough opponents. Sage was rewarded with a brilliant goal on the run that was not his usual slam home from 50m, rather a deft chip that had the Boro back men stretching to no avail. The margin was now a manageable but dangerous 16 points.
With only a few minutes till half time Mont had to keep pressuring the Boro defence and Wayne Pavitt was proving a sensation in the Mont forward line. Unfortunately Mont couldn’t finish the good work and continued to waste valuable opportunities and could only reduce the margin to 14 points by half time.
Mont 4 11 35 Greensborough 7 7 49
The third quarter was always going to be the “championship” quarter. Greensborough believed it had Mont on the ropes; they just couldn’t land a killer blow but knew now was the time. Mont on the other hand knew they were the better team and it wouldn’t take much to put the Mont supporters into singing jubilation.
Greensborough opened the quarter on fire, and with the help of the men in yellow had the first goal of the quarter inside the first 3 minutes. The lead was now out to 21 points and the Boro was louder than ever before. Then it was as if Greensborough had said “we have this won now, let’s celebrate” and they forgot what had gotten them to be in front. The Boro either through over confidence and cockiness or just through the excellence of the Mont players didn’t match up or have accountability to their direct opponents and Mont was able to change the game. Sam Floreani, Tim Watson, Mark McGough and Matt Cusack destroyed the Boro midfield while the shift of Byron to the half forward line gave Mont a strong marking long kicking option that Boro couldn’t cover. The pressure Mont was able to apply was rewarded with a strong mark and goal to Stanley and the margin was back to 15 points.
From the very next centre bounce the clearance was marked strongly by Byron and a quick pass to Stanley had the Boro crowd riled up as finally Mont was given a free kick as Stanley was felled. Stanley goaled and the margin was now 9 points. Mont continued to press forward and it was now Boro that couldn’t get the ball past half forward. Howard (46) for Boro was giving out a few cheap shots and the umps were letting it go, but when he gave Pavitt a punch to the face, even the umpire had to pay a free kick, but amazingly no yellow card despite having a great view. Pavitt goaled and it was now 3 points the difference.
With 15 minutes gone in the quarter Mont finally hit the front with a typically long impossible goal from the boundary line from the boot of Brent Gutterson. Mont was now 5 points in front and was looking to accelerate. Andrew Pepyat was controlling his wing with strength and was good enough to release Mark McGough who ran without pressure and slotted through a good goal on the run. A few minutes later Sage monstered a ball to the forward line where Pavitt marked. He goaled as his man (46) Howard stood the mark and didn’t Pavitt and the crowd let him know about it. Mont was now 18 points in front.
The quarter was rounded out with a strong mark to Patrick Fitzgerald on the goal line from a Gutterson kick and then Gutterson also goaled from a set shot after Keenan had blind turned out of the pack to find Gutto alone 30m from goal. The three quarter time lead had blown out to 31 points as Mont kicked 8 goals to a single major from Greensborough.
Mont 12 16 88 Greensborough 8 9 57
The last quarter became a procession for the Mont machine. Stanley opened the scoring after a strong contested mark and the Boro was a shadow of the team that started the game. The tackling of Mont was crushing the tired Boro players and when Pepyat trademark tackled, his resultant free landed in the hands of Keenan who put through another Mont goal. Boro did score a consolation goal, but that was soon cancelled by a Gutterson goal on the run. The Mont players were lining up to kick goals, but unfortunately the poor kicking from the first quarter came back and the ball was travelling either side of the goal posts.
After a run of missed goals that had Mont on 22 points, Gutterson finally broke the run of points with a goal from a set shot. A few minutes later Matt Cusack Goaled from a set shot and it was all over bar the shouting. The day had descended into darkness and the stadium lights had to be turned on, but there was one more reason to cheer when Sam Floreani was cruelly felled after marking to get up and then kick the ball some 60 meters and slam home the goal and put it into the face of those supporters over the fence who were calling him names. Nearly every Mont player got around Sam in a moment that was truly inspirational even with the game being well and truly over.
Mont 18 22 130 Greensborough 9 10 64
Last Modified on 27/05/2008 23:14