WHITE Hills paid a hefty price for its inaccuracy in front of goal, losing to Mount Pleasant by 12 points at home in the Heathcote District Football League on Saturday.
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The Demons had three more scoring shots, but were defeated 11.11 (77) to 8.17 (65) by the improved Blues.
White Hills' kicking at goal was particularly woeful in the second half when it added 2.14 as the Demons cost themselves their first win of the season.
"I thought we played really good footy today. The footy spent a lot of time in our forward half, which is a good sign, but unfortunately, we couldn't convert on the scoreboard," White Hills coach Shaun Makepeace said.
"We should have kicked half of those missed chances, but we didn't and Mount Pleasant was too good."
White Hills' goalkicking woes are nothing new under Makepeace's coaching tenure. Last year the Demons kicked more behinds than goals in 10 of their 16 games.
Meanwhile, Saturday was the second tight game the Blues have won early in the season after they last week defeated Huntly by six points with a kick after the siren.
Just like last week, new Blues coach Derrick Filo described the performance as another case of Mount Pleasant winning ugly.
"I think we're at least eight to nine games away from anywhere near our best footy, so you take these wins early in the season while you can because it's going to be a very even competition," Filo said.
"I think we were better over the course of four quarters and I reckon the margin was fairly accurate between the two teams.
"While we're not playing great footy, I've already learned that this group can win ugly."
Full-forward Matt Gretgrix again imposed himself on the contest for Mount Pleasant, kicking his second bag in a row of six goals.
Shaun Burchell, Kain Robins, Brad King and young gun Koe Ngawati were other leading players for the Blues, who have made their first 2-0 start to a season since 2010.
Mount Pleasant lost key recruit Tim Hill (corkie) during the game.
White Hills named half-back Malcolm Douglas, centre half-back Sam Kerr, who had a good duel with Robins, the experienced Matt Sawyer and Jake Ward (two goals) among their best players.
• Leitchville-Gunbower overpowered Colbinabbin at M.J. Morgan Oval to notch up its second win of the season.
The Grasshoppers led by as many as five goals, but for the second week in a row, the Bombers had the better of the second half as they won 14.16 (100) to 13.7 (85) at M.J. Morgan Oval.
"Colbinabbin was playing really well and got five goals up in the third quarter, so we had a bit of work to do," Bombers coach Marty Shadbolt said.
"But we were able to get our hands on the ball more in the second half and used it a bit better to get back into the game."
The Bombers, who had trailed by 16 points at half-time, kicked eight goals to four after the main break.
A week earlier against White Hills, they outscored the Demons 12 goals to four after half-time.
"We spoke at half-time that we had finished strongly against White Hills and knew we had the potential to do so again today," Shadbolt said.
"It was pleasing we were able to finish strongly again, and we're playing a lot of kids, who all have good fitness bases."
For the second game in a row, key onballer Jake Williams (three goals) was named the Bombers' best player.
Like most of the Bombers' players, Williams was at his best in the second half.
Joel Helman, who played a variety of roles, midfielder Shaun Douglass and recruit Bart Walsh (three goals) were others who were pivotal in the Bombers' win.
For the first time since joining the HDFL in 2010, the Bombers are 2-0 and will now turn their attention to a Good Friday game at home against Heathcote.
The loss leaves Colbinabbin 0-2 ahead of this Friday's match with arch-rivals Mount Pleasant at Toollen.
"We had a few out today, but all the blokes we brought in from the seconds were fantastic," Colbinabbin coach Phil Morgan said.
"We just ran out of a bit of puff in the end and when they came hard at us after half-time, we didn't slow the game down as well as we could have.
"Full credit to Leitchville... they really rallied from the 10-minute mark of the third quarter after we had got five goals up."
Midifelder-forward Linton Jacobs was named the Grasshoppers' best for the second week in a row.
Full-back Matthew McEvoy, ruckman Lochlan Sirett and defender Matthew Riordan were also influential for the Grasshoppers.
Colbinabbin's Leroy Miller was the leading forward on the ground with four goals.
• North Bendigo begun its season by retaining the Golden City Cup with a 30-point victory over Huntly at Hy-Line Australia Oval.
The Hawks kicked the opening two goals of the game, but the Bulldogs were in control for the rest of the match as they won 14.14 (98) to 10.8 (68).
"We were happy in patches with how we played, but we know there's a hell of a lot of improvement still there," North Bendigo co-coach Rob Bennett said.
"Our kicking at goal let us down at times, and there were also times when we made the wrong choices."
In his first game for the Bulldogs, Darcy Richards won the Keith Robertson Medal as North Bendigo's best player.
"Darcy was fantastic with his leadership all day. He played in the middle, but also played across half-forward and half-back and was really good," Bennett said.
Renowned as a key defender, Cam Lomas had the job of tagging Huntly coach Stacy Fiske and received high praise from Bennett.
Ash Craig and Tyson Findlay (two goals) were also prominent for the Bulldogs, while Tom O'Loughlin kicked four goals and recruit Michael Leech added three.
Last year's grand finalist, Huntly, is now 0-2 heading into a bye this weekend.
"North Bendigo was a lot bigger, stronger and more mature than us with their bodies and too good," Fiske said.
"But our boys worked hard all game and never gave in.
"It was a tough day, but we'll take plenty out of it knowing that we've got to work a bit harder to get up with those top teams."
Captain Braidy Dickens, onballer Zac Heaslip and Harry Whittle (two goals) battled hard to be the Hawks' best players.
• In the biggest margin of the HDFL season so far, Lockington-Bamawm United belted Heathcote by 63 points at Prendergast Oval.
After a competitive opening quarter, the Cats assumed control of the contest to win 18.17 (125) to 10.2 (62).
The Cats kicked 15 goals to six over the last three quarters after the Saints had led by two points at the first break.
"After quarter-time we played some good team-orientated football, but I was really happy with the second half, in particular," Cats coach Adrian Dohnt said.
"Heathcote put a lot of pressure on us in that first quarter, but in that second quarter when we had the breeze we were able to get going and started to use the ball a lot better through the midfield."
The Cats' 18 goals were kicked by just five players - Ryan Jensen (five), Lachlan Collins (five), Matthew Deledio (four), Jeremy Mundie (two) and John Halloran (two).
Marcus Angove, who played at full-back, Deledio, the consistent Nathan O'Brien, Trent Bacon and Jensen played well for the Cats, while the Saints had good players in Jake Condon, Darcy McLean, Marc Millard and Luke Bell.