Maryborough is off the bottom of the BFNL ladder after it scored its first win of the season on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 11.17 (83) to 8.12 (60) victory over Castlemaine at Camp Reserve saw Maryborough jump the home side into ninth on the table.
It was Maryborough’s first win away from home since round 16, 2014.
“It’s nice for the boys to get some reward for their efforts,’’ an elated Maryborough coach Ben Lavars said.
“The second half against Eaglehawk gave us some belief that we can play some good footy.
“We’ve been in good in patches and it was a bit like that today as well.
“The good thing is we have a win on the board and now we have to build on that consistency.
“We need to turn those patches of good footy into three and four quarters of good footy.”
Maryborough set the foundation for its win by kicking five goals to one in the first term.
The margin was six goals at the final change before Castlemaine made a run in the last quarter.
“Castlemaine kicked the first three goals of the last quarter to get the margin back to under three goals,’’ Lavars said.
“They came hard at us, but we managed to kick a couple of goals and hold on.
“Our leaders like Brady Neill, Luke Bucknall, Jayden Hooper., Mitch Kennedy and Coby Perry settled us down and got the game back on our terms.
“You need that leadership otherwise the younger boys can get flustered and nervous.”
With just one win from the club’s previous 65 matches, Lavars said the Maryborough players and supporters deserved to celebrate on Saturday night.
“For some of the boys it was very exciting because they haven’t played in many wins,’’ Lavars said.
“For me, it was relief just to get a win for the club. It was great to see the boys enjoy some success.”
On the flipside, Castlemaine had little reason to celebrate after slumping to its ninth-straight defeat.
The positive for the Pies was the form of youngsters Darby Semmens and Jack Chester.
Semmens was Castlemaine’s best player, while Chester kicked five of his side’s eight goals.