PENINSULA LEAGUE
WITH two minutes left on the clock on Saturday, Pines was six points in front of Bonbeach and looked like they were going to hold on for the win.
A Pines kick across the body towards the new clubrooms end pushed across the face of goal and gave back possession of the footy to Bonbeach.
The Sharks moved the ball quickly to the far end of Bonbeach Recreation Reserve and again Pines were able to cause a stoppage.
With just seconds left in the game, the ball was thrown up inside attacking 50 for the Sharks. Paul Lewis, in his first game for Pines after being cleared from Rosebud, became third man up in the ruck contest and smashed the ball clear of the stoppage.
Only problem was that the ball fell into the hands of the Sharks and a quick kick found the arms of Justin Bennett.
The siren sounded and Bennett nailed his third goal of the game from close range.
The final score was 14.8 (92) apiece. The second draw of the 2015 Peninsula League season (the first was Edi-Asp and Langwarrin).
While the Sharks kicked with the aid of the breeze in the final quarter, the wind was going more across the ground. Eighteen of the 28 goals kicked in the match were to the far end of Bonbeach.
Pines dominated the third quarter but failed to convert their opportunities. The visitors led by just eight points at three quarter time.
Bonbeach kicked the first four goals of the final term to kick clear. However, Pines then kicked the next four to get their noses in front with minutes left.
Pines’ coach Pat Swayne said it was Bonbeach’s clearance work that was the difference between the sides.
“Mark Tyrrell and Jackson Casey were superb in the middle of the ground and they scored a few goals from centre clearances. In the end they had seven more clearances than us,” said Swayne.
“That’s our Achilles heel at the moment – we are a couple of midfielders short. Losing a two time league medal winner and four time best and fairest winner in Jimmy Messina doesn’t help us.
“I thought that in attack we were stronger and defensively we were pretty even. It was in the middle that cost us.
“We’d like to use Luke Potts in various roles but our hand is forced a bit to leave him in the middle for long periods.
“I’m bitterly disappointed in the draw but I’m not shattered.
“We made some mistakes and we’ll learn from them together. I’ve always said that I believe we will be a better side in the second half of the season.
“I’ve had a very good look at the competition now and I don’t think we are far away. With the improvement I expect in the back end, I’m confident we’ll be there,” said Swayne.
Bennett, Rob Ferraro, Anthony Hogan and Jackson Sole with a couple of goals were in Bonbeach’s best. Guy Hendry with five goals, along with Dale Tedge and Beau Hendry were the Pythons’ best.
Mt Eliza maintained its position on top of the ladder with a solid 32 point victory against Langwarrin.
The game was an arm wrestle in the first half before the home side stepped up its intensity levels in the third quarter.
The result was 4.6 to 1.3 in the third and the Redlegs went into the final break with a 19 point lead.
Langwarrin got to within eight points midway through the last but two goals to Ben Lean and one to Scott Lockwood saw the Redlegs dominate the final 15 minutes of the match and win 12.16 (88) to 7.14 (56).
While there was a lot of focus on Ben Lean and Rohan Heasley in the middle of the ground, it was Ben Landry who did the most damage. He racked up almost 30 touches in a best on ground display.
Lockwood started slowly but was dominant by the end of the game and Justin Van Unen, while beaten across four quarters by Langwarrin’s Rikki Johnson, got off the leash a few times to kick three freakish goals and set another one up.
David Barton and Sam Wettenhall were damaging across the ground and the defence, led by Sam Gill and Darren Booth, was well supported by Jimmy Clayton and Aaron Dunne.
James Capkin and Matt Lillie also became pivital around the ground late in the game as mobile ruckmen.
Blake Harkness was comfortably Langwarrin’s best plyer, despite not being named in their best, while Johnston and skipper Scott Sienkiewicz, along with Shane Paterson and Michael Parker were also fine contributors.
Seaford won its first game for the season, defeating Karingal by a whopping 117 points, 26.22 (178) to 9.7 (61).
Ben Crowe and Dean Williamson booted five goals each for the Tigers and Pat Cadd finished with four.
The Tigers booted 17 goals to five in the second half.
Travis Puntaroni kicked five goals for the Bulls while Nathanael Furlong and Aaron Lees also had solid games.
Frankston YCW kept Edithvale-Aspendale to one goal in the first half in their match and went on to win 17.12 (114) to 8.4 (52).
Anthony Bruhn booted four goals and Ryan Santon was the best player on the ground with three majors.
Matt Clark and Jordan Derbyshire were the best of the Eagles.
Mornington overcame a slow start and a five point deficit at half time to get the win against Chelsea, 14.14 (104) to 12.4 (76).
The Doggies still trailed by five points at three quarter time, however, booted eight goals to three in the final term to get the four points.
Michael Gay and Ryan O’dell were outstanding for the Doggies, as was Ryan Smith, while Todd Gardiner, Niz Abdallah and Jayden Attard were good for the Gulls.
First published in the Mornington News – 2 June 2015
