A WIN personified by grit and determination over Golden Square has ensured Gisborne is still a live chance of playing BFNL finals for the first time in four years heading into the last round.
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With its season on the line at Wade Street on Saturday, Gisborne emerged victorious by three points – 7.16 (58) to 7.13 (55) – to keep its finals pulse beating.
Gisborne bravely battled for survival in its back half in the dying minutes as Golden Square pressed hard with the last four scores of the game, but all were behinds before time ran out.
The result draws Gisborne level with fifth-placed Golden Square on 40 points, although, the Wade Street Bulldogs have the far superior percentage of 149 to 131.
Gisborne hosts South Bendigo in the final round – a game it will start favourites – while Golden Square, which hasn’t missed a finals series since 2004, faces a tough round 18 trip to Kyneton.
Saturday’s match – while not pretty, one of the games of the year given what was at stake – was the third this season Gisborne has been involved in by less than a kick.
“It was a hard-fought game in some tough conditions at times and fortunately, we did enough in the last quarter to hold on,” Gisborne coach Clinton Young said.
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“It could have gone either way, but I’m proud of the way the boys fought it out.”
The lead changed three times in the last quarter, which started with Golden Square ahead by three points.
The first goal of the final term came courtesy of some class from Gisborne’s Matt Goodyear, who won the ball in a contest, weaved through traffic and snapped from 35m.
However, Golden Square regained the advantage four minutes later when Henry Anderton was awarded a holding the man free-kick and converted.
Anderton’s major was followed soon after by a captain’s goal to Gisborne’s Jarrad Lynch, who from a free-kick nailed his set-shot 35m out to give his side back a four-point advantage.
Lynch’s goal came at the 12-minute mark and would be the last of the match as the pressure lifted another notch over the remaining 20 minutes.
Gisborne, which named tireless ruckman Josh Grabham best, had three further scoring opportunities, but all were behinds – one of which was a kick from Jake Conolan that looked like bouncing through but was touched on the line.
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Gisborne’s lead got out to seven points at the 18-minute mark, but the rest of the game’s scoring was done by Golden Square.
Gisborne’s season was hanging by a thread when, with its lead cut back down to under a goal, Golden Square’s Braydon Welsh won a holding the ball free kick and lined up for a set-shot with 3:25 remaining with the chance to put his side back in front.
But Welsh’s kick fell short and was punched through for a behind, while Golden Square later added one more behind in what was the final score of the game.
In what was the club’s most significant win away from home since 2014, Young was full praise for the way in which his side was able to staunchly defend against a barrage of Golden Square inside 50s for the majority of the last 10 minutes of the contest.
“Square was definitely pushing hard, but our backline held up really well and it was a performance that was all about determination,” Young said.
The game was played in some trying conditions in the second quarter when heavy rain fell, a howling breeze swirled and it became so dark that the lights needed to be turned on.
Gisborne kicked the only two goals of the second quarter through Tom Fraser and Young to increase what had been a one-point advantage at quarter-time into a 13-point lead at half-time: 4.8 to 2.7 – a handy break given how hard goals had been to come by.
Young’s goal – a kick off the ground in the goalsquare – came with 25 seconds left and after a free kick reversal went the way of Gisborne moments earlier.
With the challenge firmly in front of it at half-time, Golden Square responded in the third term and in the space of eight minutes kicked three of its seven goals for the match through Dylan Johnstone, Jake Thrum and ball magnet Adam Baird.
Baird was gifted his goal when Gisborne defender Eamon McKenna kicked across the face of goal straight to Baird 20m out, who kicked his second of the match.
Golden Square skipped out to a nine-point lead during the third quarter and had the momentum, but a late goal to Gisborne’s Conolan from a mark brought the game back within a kick heading into the final term.
Gisborne was down to 21 fit players during the second quarter after forward Jaidyn Owen suffered a hip injury, while there would have been concerns for Golden Square when returning forward Jayden Burke came off second-best in a third-term marking contest, but he returned to the field.
“I thought after half-time we had a lot of control of the game and had more opportunities, but we didn’t take them… big games are defined by moments and they probably had a few more than us,” Golden Square coach Bernie Haberman said.
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