The Cygnet Football Club travelled to Abbotsfield Park to take on the Claremont Magpies and came home empty handed after a narrow loss in the Reserves match and a disappointing result in the Senior game after victory seem assured.
With the Claremont side not fielding a Colt’s side this enabled the committee to have a well earned sleep in before the first game. However, with a number of the committee and volunteers on holiday, plus a number of players on trips or family commitments, the SFL needs to look very hard as to whether Easter Saturday games are the way to go as a number of Colt’s were required to help make up team numbers? While this is no excuse for the final results, I’m sure it places a strain on other clubs during this period.
The Reserves match .... kicked off in swirling wind making disposal for both sides very difficult, however the Port side seemed to settle best and got the first goal on the board. The rest of the match turned into an arm wrestle goal for goal, with nothing between the sides at the long break.
The young Colt’s brought into the Port side were playing some brilliant football, especially Alex Ford and Jeremy Hickey, and the Port shot out to a fifteen point lead late in the third term. A late goal swung the momentum back towards Claremont heading into the final term.
The first half of the last quarter looked like it was gong to be anybodies game, but a couple of telling goals on the run from Claremont was enough to take the points in a close and hard fought affair.
Better players... included Alex Ford who was fantastic across half back while Jeremy Hickey was in an under fighting for the football all day and kicked a great goal. “Libba” Paul continued his consistent form and Josh Wilcox repelled a number of Claremont forward thrusts. Sixteen year old Sam Cook was great on his wing and Tom Slevin played well in the backline.
The major goal-kicker was Daniel Walter with 2. Our thanks to all the Colts who played on the day – great effort boys!
Thank you as well to Paul Reinmuth for standing in as Reserves Team Manager on Saturday.
The Senior side .... bolted out of the blocks again as they have done to other sides in previous weeks. The loss of Captain Bradley Watson pre-game was a huge loss; however Murray Wise and Ben Dean both came in for their first game in the Ports colours this season. A seven goal to one first term had the Port holding a very good lead at quarter time, however but for poor kicking, it should have been far greater and it looked like all one-way traffic. To their credit, Claremont worked their way back into the game in the second term scoring 3 goals while holding the Port to 3 points.
The game was really lost in the third term where the Port failed to kick a goal with the breeze advantage. While the Port still held a 24 point lead at three quarter time, one could sense that the Claremont side was building in confidence.
An early goal at the start of the final term to Claremont started the rot for the Port and to make it all the more painful, supporters watched as another 9 unanswered goals were kicked by the Magpies to turn what was a 43 point lead at one stage of the match into a 44 point loss, much to the disbelief of coaching staff and supporters present.
Coach Matt Tyrrell could not hide his disappointment after the game and closed the door to give the players a good dressing down, and a well deserved one at that.
Congratulations to Claremont who showed no matter how far behind you are on the scoreboard, with persistence you can still snatch victory coming from behind.