The game itself wasn’t pretty to watch but on Saturday evening the four points NOBSPC had earned were a thing of beauty, as the hard fought win solidifies our spot in the final four and puts us only a game away from second. Plus we beat a fellow top four side for the first time this year.

Once again we jumped out of the blocks brilliantly and had four goals on the board to nothing in quick time. Keown was back to his best and we looked good. Then we started missing shots and Old Geelong worked their way back into the game with the the next three goals.

Our second quarter was littered with easy misses, offset somewhat by the Old Geelong full back slipping over when kicking out and gifting a goal to Wade. We took a 19-point lead into halftime and NOBSPC fans held their collective breath over what might follow in the third quarter given recent form.

Early in the second half the nerves began to jangle even more as Old Geelong were winning the contested ball and kicked the first goal to narrow the gap. Thankfully they didn’t capitalize on their chances and we found a way to get back on top. Hard work earned us 4.5 for the quarter took us to a 34-point lead at the final change.

We were desperate to kick the first goal of the last term to put Old Geelong away and should have done so. A terrible miss resulted and after that Old Geelong worked their way back into the game coming home with the wind. Nervous fans couldn’t watch the last 10 minutes as our early effort told on the legs of the NOBs players. In the end our defence held strong and we scored a 12-point win. The fact it was 12 behinds said a lot about our kicking for goal on the day.

Better players on the day included Adam Oakley, Jeremy Nettlefold, Dylan Clarkson and Damon Byrne in the midfield, while our defence was really good, led by Nick Holt, Mick O’Donoghue and Pat Kelly. On a tough day for forwards, Keown was good with 3 goals