After a week of heavy rain, a soaked Snake Pit greeted both the Cobras and Box Hill North on Saturday.Due to the condition of the ground, the football on display wasn't the finest, though the 4 points were safely in Canterburys possession by the end of each game.
Reserves
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantebury | 4.2-26 | 6.4-40 | 10.10-70 | 12.10-82 |
| Box Hill North | 1.0-6 | 2.1-13 | 4.1-25 | 7.6-48 |
Goal Kickers: A. Baker 3, S. Kelly 3, R. Hummerston, S. Woodward, R. Moody, J. Price, J. Bergin, L. Nelson
Best Players: A. Stals, S. Kelly, T. Mathers, A. Baker, T. Hunter, L. Nelson
The Cobbie scoobs took on an old rival from the Southern League, from way back in 2001 in Box Hill North, in a must win clash for a top 2 finish.
With the rain finally easing after coming down heavily all week, the Snake Pit was in reasonable nick due to some diligent super soaking of the outfield, but the centre wicket area was still heavy under foot and provided a real scrappy glue pot in the middle. With a strong side in, we got off to a great start, kicking out to an early 20pt lead at the first break, with senior experienced players in Moody, Hummerston, and old dog Straughnie leading the way in his 150th game for the tri colours. The second quarter saw an arm wrestle, with BHN staying with 19pts for most of the term, before a late goal to Baker Finch gave us some breathing space with a 27pt lead at the main break.
With the wind behind our backs, the third term saw us extend our lead to 45pts at the last break, before a spirited BHN out scored us in the last with 8 scoring shots to 2 with Gash and Pricey done for the day. All in all we got the job done which was the main thing, saluted club legend Straughnie in the best possible way, and hung on to 2nd spot on the table, with much still to perfect for finals.
We have now pretty much locked in a top 3 finish, so a massive congratulations to all the boys for all their hard work and spirited efforts to date. Now to perfect our game by finals to give ourselves the best possible chance… The first finals series for the 2s since 2008 beckons…
Doaky…
Seniors
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury | 3.5-23 | 7.10-52 | 12.11-83 | 14.15-99 |
| Box Hill North | 3.3-21 | 5.4-34 | 7.7-49 | 9.7-61 |
Goal Kickers: R. Walmsley 4, N. Szabo 3, J. Wilson 2, T. Lowden, L. Chapman, C. Acutt, N. Harbeck, P. Gill
Best Players: R. Walmsley, T. Lowden, M. Peel, C. Skate, N. Szabo, D. Gates
This is how Mick Peel (Ning) saw the day… Not quite how I saw the contest but thought for the sake of the exercise, I’d write this report from his perspective.
In all senses of the game it was a glorious day, the ground was in tip top condition, the middle was pitch perfect – almost good enough to bring out the lawn bowls, roll the jack out and get a couple of ends in before the game.
Box Hill Nth were really good blokes, when we were chatting to several of them before the game I was wondering why we hadn’t held a joint ball with these chaps a few weeks earlier. Still, you can’t change the past so thought we’d invite them along to Buckets’ mums birthday after the game to share a few frothies and chew the fat.
From the opening bounce our skills were nothing short of sublime, sliky hands and hitting targets lace out (we are on today, I thought). Although admittedly a couple of our corkscrew kicks at goal in the first quarter just missed the post by millimetres, it didn’t really matter as we were doing all the right things. This was a game that you’d spend an hour online trying to get your tickets, even if you got timed out trying to sort out the Captcha phrase you persevere knowing this was a once in a lifetime spectacular (bit like Halley’s Comet – February 1994).
The game in general was how I’d imaging 44 blokes taking purple tabs together at Woodstock – an absolute love fest if ever you’ve seen one. Such was the tranquillity of the performance, that the coaches decided to get together mid quarter and head into the Jean Green room to discuss current Greek politics over a bit of Moussaka and maybe finish off the left over scones. Lofty smells bergamot from the incense candles drifted across the ground as players stood aside in gentlemanly fashion exclaiming “no after you, I insist”, sharing possession of the pig skin wrapped bladder between friend and foe.
Our midfield was running like a TAG HEUER, rolling in and of the ground with pure precision, sharing the load and playing with pure consideration for all and sundry. The in and under mids heads were planted firmly over the pill, our backs were tighter than AJ in a sleeping bag and the forward structure was good enough to be the foundations for the new twin towers.
Half way through the last quarter we had to make a decision to either all go down to the Blackburn Hotel to catch up with Guerra and Silvia or to play out the last 12 minutes. We decided to keep going until the purple tabs wore off and ran out the eventual winners by 39 points, which was pretty incredible as it seemed more like 80. Great spectacle, great game, great fun with great blokes.
A great day and one for the footy almanac.
Harps…
