It was – literally – a long day for players and spectators alike on Saturday at Ferndale Park as Brunswick NOBSPC’s clash with St Mary’s Salesian finished at 5pm with the home side eventually recording a comprehensive win.

Both the finishing time and the final margin – after NOBs held a nine-point lead in the third quarter – had observers scratching their heads. As to the latter, in a nutshell, after kicking the first three goals of the second half we conceded the last 11 of the game. The former is a harder to summarise, but was mainly caused by the umpires paying about 100 free kicks, many of which were quite inexplicable.

But even stranger was the early loss of our full-forward Simon Harwood to a bee sting. Yes, you read that right. What were the odds of there being a bee on a footy ground in winter in the first place, let alone one stinging poor old Simon – who is allergic to bee stings – just after he had kicked a goal to put us in front? You would need to be a mathematics professor to assess them.

Back to the game. As had occurred the week before, we were up and about in the first quarter and dominated play, with quick ball movement to the forward line, especially by long-kicking midfielders Kyle Docherty and Jeremy Nettlefold. Again we didn’t get full reward for effort, but in fairness the St Mary’s defence proved hard to pierce.

The second term was played on even terms for the most part before late goals to St Mary’s helped them to a 10-point lead at the main break.

Then came our great start to the third quarter, mainly through the agency of Gerrard Bence and Docherty, which was rapidly cancelled out by three goals to St Mary’s in a couple of minutes. That burst seemed to take the wind out of sails as we stopped taking the game on and played into the hands of the home team. Slow ball movement, including many kicks backwards in defence, led to inevitable turnovers.

Nevertheless, the game was still in the balance at three-quarter time, but a disappointing final term ensued, even if the final margin was not a true reflection on our effort.

Bence was our best four-quarter performer, while Docherty, Todd Cleary, Andrew Roberts, Dean Beaumont and Mick O’Donoghue were other good players.

Next week we are back at home against Whitefriars who are also 2-6 for the season. Needless to say an absolute must-win game. See you there.