It was a case of “here we go again” against Williamstown CYMS as NOBSPC kicked with the wind in the first quarter and built a big lead that was gradually reeled in but we were still in front early in the last quarter before being overrun late. The fact we gave up second spot on the ladder made the loss all the more disappointing.

Before the match we lost Peter Shepherd to injury which was a big blow as he has been our best player this season. We didn’t seem to miss him in the opening term as we enjoyed the use of a 5-goal breeze and dominated inside 50 entries, finishing with 8.6 to 2.1. Matt Keown was keen to make amends for going goalless last week with 3 for the quarter. We probably should have been further in front, especially as the CYs were aided by a dubious 25 metre penalty in front of goal.

Kicking against the wind in the second quarter was a struggle but we managed to hold an 8-point lead at the main break. Late goals to the CYs did hurt us though.

It was the third quarter that proved our undoing. Just as happened in the game at Williamstown we failed to capitalize on the breeze in this term. The scores were eerily similar, this time 3.2 to 3.3 and last time it was 4.3 apiece. We did cop some bad umpiring decisions in this quarter but the fact was the effort of the CYs was superior to ours.

Despite kicking the first goal of the last quarter (as we did last time too) and being within a kick at the 22 minute mark, the CYs proved too strong and ran away with the game, kicking 8 goals of their own for the term.

As the game went on we felt the loss of Shepherd, with his ability to push deep both ways and to keep winning the tap outs. In the end too much was left to too few over the full 4 quarters. Adam Oakley again set the standard with an excellent game. James Mirtschin played probably his best game in defence and Damon Byrne was very good on his return. Dean Beaumont battled hard all day while Keown and Christian Ryan provided strong targets in attack, but had to contend with too much poor delivery.

After the bye, we face the big challenge of Therry away as we seek to nail down a top 4 spot.