A PAIR of one-point thrillers on Saturday further highlighted just how enthralling the Loddon Valley league season is shaping in 2018.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Following an opening round of unpredictable results, Saturday featured both Pyramid Hill and Mitiamo improving to 2-0 by the barest of margins.
Pyramid Hill survived a furious late surge from Bears Lagoon-Serpentine to hang on and win by one point, 12.9 (81) to 12.8 (80) at home.
The Bulldogs held a commanding 39-point lead 12 minutes into the final quarter, before the Bears piled on six unanswered goals.
With the Bears two points down, James Rippingale had a late chance to put his team in front with a shot from 50m, but his kick was touched on the line in what was the final score of the match.
Pyramid Hill co-coach Brad Fawcett says complacency crept into his team late in the game that allowed the Bears to storm back into the contest.
“No doubt we thought we’d done enough and we stopped doing the things that had set us up at the start of the day. As a result Serp was able to get on top out of the middle, get a lot of uncontested ball and put our backline under pressure,” Fawcett said.
“We were very lucky to getaway with it in the end.”
Following a round one win over Newbridge, the Bulldogs have opened their season with a pair of wins against two of the touted fancied teams in 2018.
Steven Gunther (three goals) across half-forward and on the wing, midfielder Billy Micevski (two goals) and Michael Bateman in defence were the best for the Bulldogs, who had Nathan Fitzpatrick kick four goals.
The Bears have now started the season 0-2.
“You can’t give a side six goals headstart halfway through the last quarter and expect to win,” Bears coach Greg Gadsden said.
“It was a good sign that we fought the game right out and our fitness came to the fore at the end, but we just turned the ball over far too much in the first half.”
The polished Miggy Podosky on a wing and defender Daniel Hayes, who competed strongly against Fitzpatrick, were named best for the Bears.
• Mitiamo kicked the last two goals of its clash against Calivil United to sneak over the line by one point.
The Demons led by 12 points with 90 seconds left on the clock, before Mitiamo’s Michael I’Anson and Lucas Matthews in his first game for the club kicked a pair of goals to level the scores.
The Superoos were then able to rush through a behind in the dying stages to hit the front and win the game 9.6 (60) to 8.11 (59), giving them a pair of victories over both of last year’s grand finalists – the Demons and Bridgewater – in their opening two games.
Earlier, the Superoos had held the Demons to just one goal in the first half as they led by 24 points at the main break, 5.2 to 1.2.
“We knew they were always going to come back at us and they outplayed us in the third and fourth quarters,” Mitiamo coach Andy Grant said.
“They moved the footy a lot better and we were unaccountable and definitely used up one of our get-out-of-jail-free cards in being able to get the win.”
The standouts for the Superoos featured Max Simpson in defence, Rodney Reeves on a wing and Matthews through the midfield. Terry Reeves and recruit Matthew Trewhella kicked three goals each.
Matt Magee (two goals), Alex Davis and captain Chris Down were good contributors for the Demons, who after being undefeated at home last year lost first-up on their home deck this season.
• Maiden Gully YCW has made its first 2-0 start to a season since 2009, backing up last week’s win over Bears Lagoon-Serpentine with a 17-point victory at home over Marong.
The Eagles kicked five goals to three after half-time to prevail 12.13 (85) to 10.8 (68) in what was a performance coach Wayne Mitrovic described as scrappy.
“Our skills really let us down and we didn’t hunt in numbers like we did last week,” said Mitrovic, who kicked three goals.
“We turned the ball over far too much, which was frustrating, but we were able to do enough to win the game.”
The Eagles were forced to play part of the game one-man down after Jake Klemm was reported and yellow-carded for striking.
Steve Turner in defence, the classy Nick Waterson and ruckman Clinton Angove were the standouts for the Eagles, who for the second week in a row sit on top of the ladder having not previously done so since 2006.
Coach Corbin Fleming (four) and Jarrod Fitzpatrick (three) combined for seven of the 10 goals for the Panthers, who were best served by Bryze Franzini.
• For the 20th time in a row Bridgewater defeated Inglewood – this time by a margin of 155 points.
Hungry to bounce back from a round one loss to Mitiamo, the Mean Machine put the Blues to the sword with a 30.17 (197) to 6.6 (42) belting in Inglewood’s first game of the season.
“The boys were really hungry today and kept their foot on the pedal all game,” Bridgewater coach Dale Cameron said.
RELATED – BRIDGEWATER V INGLEWOOD | PHOTOS
“The boys all brought into the way we wanted to play and we had 22 contributors.”
The Mean Machine had 13 goalkickers, led by seven to Darren Clutton and four each to recruit Alex Powell and Daniel Nalder, who made the most of being released up forward, while Tom Broadbent was a ball magnet in winning the ANZAC Medal for best on ground.
Daniel Lloyd kicked three of Inglewood’s six goals. Recruits Peter McKay and ruckman Lachlan Sidebottom were the Blues’ best.