De La Salle vs St Bedes / Mentone Tigers

Match Report

After a superb display of hard running footy to ¾ time, DLS were totally overrun by a desperate STBMT, which put on a devastating display of highly skilled footy in the final quarter.

DLS started brilliantly, in fine conditions, with Campbell Bedford snapping from the HFF at the 5 minute mark. Many promising forward entries went unrewarded, due to poor final disposals, or good intercepts by SBMT, depending on your interpretation. Liam Murphy, whose strength over the ball was telling, snapped out of a pack at CHF and DLS had its 2nd at the 9 minute mark. A fine pass to Jake Williams by Pat Russell, culminated in DLS’s 3rd at the 12 minute mark.

STBMT had hardly any forward entries to this point, but in a period where they controlled play, they eventually goaled from scramble in their goal square, at the 18 minute mark. SBMT added goals at the 20 & 24 minute marks to get near even, despite DLS early dominance!  Bedford got his 2nd following good play by Sean Fisher to Pat Bohan to Trent Shannon whose perfect pass found Bedford on the run from round the pavilion flank.

DLS started Qtr 2 with a lead of 9 points (4.3 : 3.0) but it was SBMT which scored 1st after a clumsy out on the full free at the 7 minute mark. Then a superb run by Matt Hill, finishing with an accurate disposal, which  found Christian Algeri, who was able to run into the open goal to restore DLS slender lead at the 9 minute mark. After an intercept by Lachie Gawle (I think), his pass to Jake Williams enabled him to dribble through a goal at the 11 minute mark. DLS appeared to be back in control, but several set shots were missed by Fisher & Shannon before STMT showed how it is done with a high quality mark & conversion at the 16 minute mark.

DLS rallied with goals to Fisher, freed 40 meters out & then to Seb Filipovic following a fine intercept by Tom Filipovic, who found Gawle, who in turn passed to Seb, at the 21 & 27 marks respectively.

DLS started Qtr 3 with a 23 ;point lead 8.6 : STBMT 5.1. Bohan goaled after a pass from Gawel at the 5 minute mark but a snap from SBMT goal square at the 7 minute mark evened the quarter score. DLS the dominated play with Russell marking & gaoling from a pass from Docherty. Then Fisher, freed,  kicked to the square where Bohan took a fine pack mark & converted. SBMT goaled from a good mark in the FP at the 16 minute mark but after 7 minutes of hard contested footy, DLS replied when Matt Hill cleverly goaled from the HFF. When Shannon marked at CHF & converted at the 25 minute mark, DLS had completed a 5 goal to 2, 3rd quarter to have a seemingly commanding 46 point lead at ¾ time.

SBMT stared the final quarter with great intensity. Increasing their fierce tacking, if that was even possible! They were in control at every contest but the DLS defence, marshalled by Joe Lloyd held firm. An errant handpass straight to a STBMT player on the HFF, enabled STMT to break the deadlock at the 7 minute mark. From that point, SBMT took total control, dominating the centre & all clearances. Their high marking forwards, which had been contained by Lloyd, Luke Healy & Will McKinnon, the later until out of the game in Q2, dominated in contested pack marking. STBMT goaled at the 8,11,13,19,22 & 25 minute marks to reduce the margin to 3 points.

The only word to describe the final 5 minutes is: frantic. Players were throwing themselves at each contest frenetically! The final siren sounded with ball deep in STMT forward line!

It had been a 7 goal 1 behind SBMT quarter to DLS’s solitary 1 behind.

A look at the ladder after yesterday’s results shows how delicately we are placed, with our last home & away season game against 2^nd placed Fitzroy at Fitzroy to come!

Basically, to be sure of playing finals, we have to beat Fitzroy. A very small loss may get us there. OGG, which had a massive win yesterday over Monash, could have another  massive win, this time over AJAX, & eliminate our slender 3.3 points % margin.

Best: Pat Bohan, Joe Lloyd, Tom Docherty, Matt Hill, Adrian Indovino, Sean Fisher.
Goals: Campbell Bedford 2, Bohan 2, Jake Williams 2, Fisher, Liam Murphy, Trent Shannon, Pat Russell, Matt Hill, Seb Filipovic, Christian Algeri