Parrots in decisive win
LEONGATHA has moved one rung up the ladder by beating Sale and consigning the Magpies to third as the Parrots fill second spot.
The loss by Sale sees Maffra all clear on top of the ladder two games ahead, while the Parrots’ win has also given it some breathing space two games clear of Moe in fourth and Traralgon fifth.
At the midpoint of the season Maffra is the team to beat; still unbeaten but certainly the Eagles have had a couple of close ones.
Leongatha and Sale are Maffra’s biggest challengers and if things stay this way these two teams gain the double chance.
Moe, Traralgon and Bairnsdale are the three teams fighting it out for the remaining two ladder positions.
In perfect conditions at Sale, Leongatha welcomed youngsters Tom Evans up from the Reserves and Mason McGannon, a Gippsland Power player who has been playing in the Thirds lately.
It wouldn’t take long before McGannon made his presence felt booting his first senior goal in the first term.
Both Sale and Leongatha was going hard at it with three goals apiece in the opening term with Dunne kicking the opening goal and Josh Hopkins the other.
It was Leongatha 3.4 to Sale’s 3.3 at quarter time.
Leongatha set up its win in the second quarter, booting five goals to Sale’s one; a lead it managed to hold for the rest of the game.
The pressure was on in the early part before Leongatha broke the shackles as the Parrots sensed it was getting the upper hand; with Cade Maskell in defence sneaking up to boot two goals this term, McGrath, Lloyd and Bowman the other three.
Sam Forrester was having a great game moved forward and playing high up the ground, picking up loads of possessions.
Ben Willis in the ruck for Leongatha played a fantastic game against one of the league’s best in Lipman. Willis is enjoying a great season and he was again a strength for the Parrots in the tapping duals and around the ground with his superb mobility and work ethic.
The third quarter again saw Sale applying pressure and the intensity was up again as the Magpies tried to get back into the game.
Parrot defenders Schelling, Maskell, Westaway and Cooper amongst others were not letting Sale get any easy ones.
Leongatha had forward entries but could only convert 2.1 to Sale’s 3.2, but it was the Parrots heading into the last change with a 10.8 to 7.9 lead.
Leongatha blew the game apart in the first 15 minutes of the final term with four goals, two to Dunne and Lloyd and one to Hume, to go out to a 42 point lead.
A back injury to Schelling saw him go off and the momentum changed with Sale then adding quick goals; four in five minutes and suddenly what looked like an easy win to Leongatha was again challenged.
Sale kicked another one approaching time on and it was only two goals the difference.
Another Sale mark at the 28 minute mark 15 metres out dead in front would have placed the Magpies one goal down.
The kick was rushed and a behind scored as the Parrots held onto an 11 point victory.
It was certainly a confidence boosting away win to Leongatha as it journeys to Wonthaggi this Sunday to take on the Power in the first game of the second round.
The Parrots had 10 goal kickers for the match in a good sign with James Lloyd booting three and Cade Maskell and Chris Dunne two apiece.
Sale backman Nick Dowse was the Magpies best while on-ballers Jayden Allison and Jordan Dessent picked up plenty of the ball.
Chris Laverty and Kane Martin on the wings gave the Magpies plenty of drive while key forward John Gooch bagged six goals.
Attack central: Leongatha’s Matt Borschman breaks out of the pack against Sale in round nine of the Gippsland League. Photo courtesy Kevin Hogan, Gippsland Times.
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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jun 13 2018. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
