Bad Loss for The Port
The Cygnet Football Club ventured to Huonville Oval on Saturday to take on old foe the Huonville Lions. Unfortunatley we came home empty handed with the lions taking the trifecta with three victories.
In a perfect day for football the Colts kicked off proceedings in slippery and dewy conditions in what is traditionally a good match. The young Port side matched the Lions in the first term and trailed by 9 points at the first break. The Port had plenty of the play in the second term but could not convert it on the scoreboard. Huonville kicked a couple of easy goals to hold a 4 goal half time lead.
After the break skill errors cost the Port dearly and the Huonville side with more avenues to goal kicked away from the dogged Port youngsters to record a solid 56 point victory.
Best players included Josh Doyle, Adam Direen, Aaron Dance, Reece Polley, Daniel Donato and Tyler Cowen.
The Reserves needed a few colts to make a full side and knew the Lions would throw everything at them early. The Port looked disorganized in the first term and trailed by 16 points at quarter time.
After a blast from their coach at the break and a couple of positional moves, the Port started to win the ball out of the middle with young Colt Tyler Cowen becoming a real target in the forward line. With scores tied in a low scoring affair, the Lions received a free kick in front of goal to put them 5 points up at the long break.
The third term was relatively even but the Lions held a handy 13 point lead at the final break. The Port were confident of coming home over the top of the Lions but they steadied on their home turf to record a hard earned but deserved 20 point victory.
Better players for the Port included Matty Dance in his first game of the season, while Krisco Harding was a real “Rock of Gibraltar” at full back and repelled many of the Lions attacks. Tim Bone led by example and Paddy Wilcox was solid across half back. Tyler Cowen was good with 2 goals in his second game of the day and Loic Auderset played another good game after returning from injury.
The Senior match was builtup all week to be a close hard fought affair. Nobody probably could have predicted what unfolded with the game all but over at quarter time with the Lions racing to 50 point lead. But for poor kicking it should have been more.
From this point things went from bad to the very ugly as the Cygnet side barely raised a yelp letting the Lions race away in what at times looked like a training drill to record a massive 131 point victory. Most present rated it the worst and possibly most insipid performance seen by a Cygnet senior side for a number of years.
Best players were hard to find but nobody battled harder against the odds than Captain Brad Watson (2 goals) and Ben Halton who had to move into the ruck to try to provide the Port some momentum. Ben Dean was his usual desperate self and Rhys Jennings and Jules Direen battled hard with little effect.
While taking nothing away from the Lions win, this group is better than that, and must repay its coach, themselves and its supporters this weekend against the very strong New Norfolk side. A repeat performance will make for a lop-sided scoreboard!