Match Report
Senior Match Report - Round 15 - 02/08/2008By Ziggy Arness
It is much to my chagrin that I have to constantly be apologetic for the brevity of my Reserves’ reports, insuperable difficulties preventing me from seeing much of their game. As a result I can only go on hearsay and that will be the case until I acquire a regular correspondent willing to furnish me with more accurate information. A seven goal win with a side that suffered from a number of elevations to the seniors was indicative of a meritorious effort. Let’s hope they reach the apogee of their game against Heatherton in two weeks. Jordan, Col Craney, Andy Van Stav, Kent, Shuka and the irascible (hope you take this the right way!) Spudda were among our best contributors. Commiserations to the hard-working Steve Morgan on the unfortunate end to his season.
Sans the quiescent Quinn, the problematic Pitt and the Bali-bound Brooks (not to mention Dazza, who is sometimes referred to as our “blessing in the skies”), the seniors responded magnificently to the challenge thrown up by a youthful and up and coming Oakleigh squad. The aforementioned exclusions represent a fair bit of our height and marking power, and a couple of the replacements could hardly be described as svelte. The effort and perfunctory style in which the undermanned Dingoes dismissed the Oakleigh challenge was nothing short of superb.
Despite meteorologic forecasts earlier in the week, the match started in circumstances propitious to an enjoyable game of football. A couple of early misses followed by Oakleigh putting the first major on the board had the bibulous Hill crowd already making smart comments about a come-from-behind victory. A beautifully snapped roving goal from Mullo was a harbinger of things to come, and after he had kicked his second followed by replications from Tony, Bret and Tolga, we felt comfortable going into the second quarter 3 up.
The nonpareil Morgan was having a field day in the ruck but the first clearance of the second quarter saw a temerarious handpass from Luke B converted to an Oaks goal to bring them within striking distance. This proved to be a mere peccadillo in the overall context of Luke’s game, as in the next minute he produced the most stunning pass to a leading Mullo who duly converted in what was the play of the day. The propinquity we mentioned a couple of weeks ago in reference to the Lavars brothers is now manifesting itself in the form of the U17 boys, who look for each other at every opportunity.
A severe umpiring error when an obvious push in the back to Steve Vinen was missed led to another Oakleigh major, but Gilly’s kick to Jake got that one back within minutes. Another Oakleigh goal was then nullified when Luke produced another sensational pass to Robbie who duly converted. Micky B was heard to say “Nothing’s changed, always Bartholomew to Mullen, never Mullen to Bartholomew!”
The reasonably comfortable 25 point half-way margin was extended when Mullo scored within 30 seconds of the resumption. Morgs marked and tried to add to it but the ineluctable attraction of an open goal led to a miss that may have been a hit given the options at his disposal.
What followed was a couple of fortunate Oakleigh goals in a period where seven consecutive and dubious free kicks were given against us (regularly known as ‘square-up’ time). Young Fordy joined in the teenagers’ keepings off game with a beautifully weighted past to Mullo. Sanity was then restored with consecutive majors to Gilly, Joel Gray, Brett Gneil and Gilly again for his third of the day.
The match was effectively over as a contest heading into the last quarter, but the boys didn’t stop. Farrugia to Main, an unselfish Gilly to Brett Gniel and an off-break from a fair way out from Tolga added to the margin. The Districts never gave up, and registered 4 of their own. Joel Gray played his best game for some time, and his two last quarter goals were well deserved. Young Fermanis was outstanding for Oakleigh. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t get overtures from higher-ranked clubs based on that performance. And if you want to talk about class, the last goal from Chris Morgan is as good as you’ll see.
Goal kickers you can read about in The Record, best players will be nominated here. Morgs was superb. Tolga and Tony Lavars not far behind. Mullo, Gnielsy, Cam Main, Stevie Vinen, Joel Gray and Parky can raffle the minor placings.
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