Chris Yeend
Diggers Rest has ended Riddell's finals hopes and advances through to the 2012 RDFL preliminary final to take on Romsey at Macedon on Saturday. The Burras trailed by as much as 29 points in the first term before overcoming the Bombers in the second half to win by 15 points in strong arm-wrestle in perfect conditions.
BIG INCLUSIONS
Diggers Rest made two changes to its line-up with Jack Sheahan and Mark Haines into the team that lost to the Sunbury Kangaroos last week. Sheahan was a handy addition to the line-up after the Calder Cannons were eliminated from the TAC Cup finals series the previous week. Riddell welcomed back Glenn Robertson and Rob Henry into the team.
THE DREAM START
The sun was shining and barely a breath of wind on a playing deck that was heavy underfoot in patches. The Bombers started the game as the more dominant team. Diggers Rest's Craig Marshall and Matt Sammut was involved in a little altercation on Diggers Rest's half-forward line and Marshall was yellow-carded by the emergency umpire just four mintues into the game. Riddell would have one more on the field than its opponent and capitalised. Brayden Allen started forward and kicked the opening goal of the game thanks to a free kick in short range to put the Bombers ahead by seven points at the eight-minute mark. The home side was wasteful in front of goal at times before Glenn Robertson picked up the ball and kicked truely to push the margin out to nine points. Dan Sahlberg started the game like a man on a mission and found himself pressing from half-back to half-forward where he kicked a goal on the run to blow the margin out to 22 points. When Andrew McCabe kicked truly at the 20-minute mark, the margin had escalated to 29 points without the Burras getting a score on the board. Leading centre half-forward Brent Tuckey pushed up the ground and Jack Sheahan pushed forward for Diggers Rest as Marshall returned to the field and found himself as the villian, turned hero. He kicked a goal from 40 metres out dead in front from a mark on the siren to bring the margin back to 23 points at the first change.
SHEAHAN AND TUCKEY EMERGE
The Burras maintained their momentum after a slow first term. Riddell coach Matt Power was happy with his team's efforts to get first to the ball that resulted in winning free kicks. The second term had Diggers Rest first to the ball. Joe Piccolo kicked the opening hoal at the two-minute mark for Diggers Rest. Tuckey started to win plenty of the ball around half-forward. Sheahan kicked back-to-back goals in as many minutes and Tuckey opened up with a great goal as the Burras hit the front at the 10-minute mark of the term and they couldn't miss. The Bombers needed to fight back and did so through Nolan who kicked a goal on the run after a free kick and advantage to have them lead by five points at half-time.
DIGGERS DOMINATE
The contest between Diggers Rest's Tuckey and Riddell's Rhys Lowry was the most appetising match-up all afternoon as the ball was sent in their direction on many occasions. Lowry had Tuckey's number on many occasion and was extremely impressive. Sheahan opened up the term with the first three goals in the space of seven minutes in a starring performance to take the game from the Bombers. When Tom Evans bounced his way into goal on the run and kicked truly at the 17-minute mark, the Burras led by 24 points without the Bombers kicking a goal. They pinched a late one back to reduce the margin to 17 points at three-quarter-time.
TIGHT FINISH
Haydn Ross opened up the final term in a blaze of glory with a trademark running goal in the first 90 seconds to reduce the margin to two kicked. Ben Sonogan through his body into a contest where he showed great courage down back and inspired his team to keep up the momentum. The Bombers thretened to hit the front in the term and got to within four points on several occasions before Laurie and Woods kicked goals to thwart the challenge. Silvester kicked his fourth goal at the 19-minute mark to reduce margin to nine points with time enough if they were good enough. Henry was yellow carded for the Bombers at the wrong time as they tried to mark a late surge. They dominated the play for the next seven minutes but the Burras held firm. The ball headed forwarded one last time for Diggers Rest and captain courageous Shaun Sims was awarded a free kick in the left forward pocket for putting his head over the ball. The siren sounded. He took the shot for goal and kicked truly as he rubber-stamped a courageous effort for Burras in an amazing win.
The Bombers crash out of the finals series in the second week of the finals for the first time in more than seven years. Diggers Rest will take on Romsey in the preliminary final at Macedon.
RADIO
Catch all the glitz and glamour of the RDFL Bowen and Ryan Medal on Friday night from 6.30pm with the Friday Sports Wrap on 100.7 Highlands FM. Tune in again from 12 noon on Saturday in the lead-up to Romsey playing Diggers Rest at Macedon with the coverage starting from 1.30pm
Last Modified on 12/09/2012 08:26