In a see-sawing contest against a spirited, but inaccurate, Melbourne High School Old Boys at a picturesque Woodfull-Miller Oval on Saturday, Brunswick again found a way to win a close game and maintain their perch on top of the Division Two ladder.

In perfect conditions, the NOBs started well enough with an early goal to emerging cult-hero Hayden Parker, before the game was played between the arcs with the respective backlines on top, after which the Unicorns gradually asserted themselves with repeat forward entries and shots on goal. Luckily for Brunswick, most of the chances weren’t taken, although they were eventually made to pay for turning the ball over in the corridor and the home side ended the opening quarter with 3.7 to 1.1.

The early part of the second term was a scrappy affair, as both sides struggled to move the ball and to score. After 15 minutes, the Unicorns kicked the first major of the term, extending their lead to over four goals, which seemed to spark Brunswick, beginning with an excellent goal from close to the boundary to Jasper Paevere, followed by Tom Wilson, who capitalised on good forward pressure, and then Will McKenzie, who was the beneficiary of a brilliant smother by skipper Ben Wilson. After the Unicorns missed a couple of guilt-edge opportunities in the shadows of halftime, the margin was 11 behinds, and it was clearly game on.

The premiership quarter again lived up to its billing. Parker got on the end of some good team-play after four minutes to make it a one-goal game, before the home side responded with the next couple to drag the margin back to 19 points. Then came a critical period when Parker kicked two-in-a-row, Tom O’Farrell snagged one and Parker made it a personal tally of four-for-the-quarter to single-handedly put NOBs seven points up at the final break.

More twists and turns were to follow, however, as the Unicorns came out and kicked the first two goals of the last quarter in quick succession to wrest back the lead, before the game again became an arm wrestle as the light dimmed on the banks of the Yarra. To break the deadlock, it was none other than Ben Wilson with a captain’s goal to put the NOBs back in front, followed by Jack Spencer, who swooped on a critical defensive error to make it an eight-point lead.

Brunswick then missed two gettable shots, before the home side came back again, reducing the margin to three points with time remaining, and had an opportunity to score in the last minute, but Paevere took a match-saving mark deep in defence, before they took the ball forward and, fittingly, Parker booted his sixth right on the final siren – a banana on the run no less!

While there were a number of contributors to the nine-point victory, the defenders were the heroes, led by Tahj Haddock, while Lewis White showed signs of getting back to his old form. Tom Hedley was excellent over four quarters on his wing, with Will McKenzie also very good on his. Ben Wilson led the resurgence in the midfield after it was soundly beaten early on, while Josh Hedley was another important cog in the midfield wheel. Hayden Parker was simply a match-winner with his creative forward-play and accurate kicking.

Next, we again travel south of the river to meet third-placed South Melbourne Districts. Let’s hope we can keep up the winning ways!