Old Camberwell vs De La Salle

Match Report

Qtr 1: Good weather & ground conditions for this critical game, for particularly OC, who needed to win to stay in race for finals with 3rd & 4th place up for grabs. For DLS, a win would almost secure a top 2 finish.
Devastatingly for DLS, Hugh Nicholson tore his calf muscle in the 1st couple of minutes of play. This will have serious implications for Hugh & the DLS finals campaign!
OC started resolutely & had the ball in their forward zone constantly. Pat Bohan continued his outstanding form, taking the ball out of ruck situations. He was freed while doing so, but his shot missed from close range. Jake Williams started well & took a superb, contested mark but the forward thrust went unrewarded. OC, despite their time in the attacking area could not impact the scoreboard until, from a goal square scrum, a kick off the ground landed their 1st goal at the 7 -minute mark.

OC continued its domination and only poor kicking from 3 set shots, within reasonable distance, prevented OC from establishing a commanding lead. Tom Deane-Johns, with strong overhead marking, held the DLS defence together. He marked strongly at CHB, ran on & passed to the leading Tom Lingberg on the HFF, who in turn passed to Adrian Indovino at CHF. His goal, at the 11-minute mark was DLS’s 1st. 13 minutes of high standard footy ensued, during which OC, as mentioned above, missed very gettable goals, before DLS through the good play of Bohan & Trent Shannon, returning from concussion, landed the ball with the fast-leading Lingberg at CHF. His goal at the 24 -minute mark gave DLS the lead by 3 points.
2 minutes later Liam Wood, played on from a contested pack mark to pass to Lingberg, 30 meters out, directly in front. His 2nd & DLS’s 3rd put the margin out to 9 points. DLS were now in control. Jake Williams, winning a strongly contested ground ball, passed to the lively Lingberg, whose shot fell short from about 40 meters out. Another opportunity went begging when Indovino, freed at CHF kicked a behind to give DLS a 10 point lead at ¼ time.
DLS 3.2=20 Old Camberwell 1.4=10

Qtr 2: DLS were now kicking to the end favoured by a slight breeze. This was a quarter characterised by missed opportunities, particularly by OC, which managed 1.4 for the term! OC goaled from snap out of a pack, at the 6 -minute mark, to reduce their deficit to 4 points.
DLS incurred another injury blow, when tough on baller Tom Docherty, badly rolled an ankle, reducing its bench to 2 players. This also will have serious implications for Tom’s fitness / recovery and the DLS finals campaign!

OC were controlling the clearances despite the good work of Bohan & Tom Stanton. Luke Healy & Will McKinnon, at FB & BP respectively, were having a decisive influence on the game, by negating their top performing OC players! After a further 14 minutes of play, Williams, evading skilfully, passed superbly to Ryan O’Meara whose conversion raised the margin to 8 points, at the 20-minute mark. Fine play by Hamish Curtis, delivered to Indovino, who registered only a behind. O’Meara, with strong hands, marked & passed to the aforementioned Lingberg, who also recorded a behind. Astounding, that for all that effort by players of both teams the outcome was a net decrease of 2 points in DLS’s quarter time margin.
DLS 4.4=28. Old Camberwell 2.8=20

Qtr 3: DLS started strongly when Williams passed to O’Meara whose rushed kick was marked by Bohan, who goaled after just 1-minute of play. In sharp contrast to Qtr 2, OC responded almost immediately, with fast play on footy providing them with a goal at the 2 minute mark!

In the absence of Tom Docherty, Seb Filipovic impacted the contested clearances & passed to O’Meara, who quickly passed to Bohan, in a very promising play, only to be rewarded with a behind! Deane-Johns, in another of his characteristic mark, play on through the centre plays, which as usual ended up with O’Meara marking on the lead,& gave DLS its 6th goal at the 13-minute mark.
Again, OC responded almost immediately, as the standard of play lifted, goaling at the 14-minute mark. Play had opened up & OC’s precise kicking & switching was stretching the DLS players’ endurance, specifically due to being 2 rotations down since early in the match! Fine play involving S Filipovic & O’Meara allowed Williams to mark on the HFF but his kick registered only a behind!
Fraser Cameron, who was playing with leg problems, marked at CHF after a series of passes, and converted to again restore the margin to around that 15-point range, at the 17-minute mark. DLS added 4 further behinds, which left the fine play of Deane-Johns, whose intercept marking was again on display, inadequately rewarded. DLS should have “shown up the game” in the later part of the quarter, instead taking only a handy but not game deciding 19-point lead into the final quarter.
DLS 7.10=52 Old Camberwell 4.9=33

Qtr4: OC’s finals participation was on the line & they started the quarter accordingly! DLS looked slow & flat footed, constantly chasing! 3 minutes in, OC goaled from a strong contested mark at CHF, reducing the margin to 13.
DLS, although being out run, managed to slow the tempo of OC’s advance for the next 8 minutes or so. O’Meara was now down back & Nathan Scollo up forward. From a pack of about 8 players, on OC’s half forward line, a snap rolled through at the 12-minute mark & reduce the margin to 6 points!
On a rare move forward, Lingberg’s long kick from a mark deep on the HFF, registered a behind. A handy behind, taking the margin to 7 points. At the 19 minute mark, following a fine contested mark by OC at CHF, the margin was reduced to that 1 point!

One could sense that it was inevitable that OC would eventually hit the front soon! 3 minutes of desperation footy ensued. Players were throwing themselves into the contest with total desire to win the ball! OC seemed to be more measured & in control of the game situation.
With no less than 8 players in a mad scramble in the DLS goal front, the “lively” Lingberg got HIS foot to the ball to put DLS back out to that 7 point at the 22-minute mark! The DLS camp were wild with relief, but this was soon tempered with the realisation that there would be at least 5 minutes of play remaining!
OC duly responded & through a series of marks advanced the ball to CHF where again a strong mark & conversion ensued to again put the margin at 1 point! A promising DLS forward move was thwarted when OC defenders rushed a behind. From another scrum in the DLS goal front, Scollo, deliberately dribbled the kick on goal which went through to give DLS the match by 8 points. This was clever thinking on his part, as if he had attempted to snap, his kick would have been smothered!

Summary: An intense game, full of tough individual contests. DLS did extremely well to win against top opposition with all to play for, as did DLS but not to the same extent.
It now looks certain that DLS will finish 2nd & Williamstown will avoid relegation.

Best: .Seb Filipovic, Luke Healy, Tom Lyngberg, Jake Williams, Ryan O’Meara, Tom Deane-Johns.
Goals:. Lyngberg 3, O’Meara 2, Pat Bohan, Fraser Cameron, Nathan Scollo, Adrian Indovino