Friday Night Lights: El Clásico
The rivalry of Newtown and Balmain established a new chapter under Friday Night Lights at Jubilee Oval where second-placed Balmain hosted third-placed Newtown. Coach Chris asked his Breakaways that tonight would be their season-defining game if they wanted to play in the grand final and i’m sure Coach Darren told his Dockers that their home ground advantage would prove to be decisive.
Your correspondent was on the sideline shivering in the cold 8 degree temperatures powering away on Pizza Hut pizzas as the ball was thrown to commence the game. In the first quarter Balmain were all over Newtown. Kicking with the wind behind their backs towards the hut end, Balmain kicked 3.4.22 to 0.5.5. The second quarter turned out to be a relative dead heat with Newtown scoring two goals to one to trail at the half-time break. 4.8.32 to 2.6.18.
In the third quarter it was another physical quarter with Balmain slightly outscoring 1.4.10 to Newtown 1.1.7 to lead 5.12.42 to 3.7.25. Notable in this quarter was the injury sustained by Kath Kobzan robbing Balmain of their centre half-forward target.
In the final quarter an early hyper-extension of the leg suffered by the Breakaways Penny Wilmot stopped the game and I felt was the turning point of the game. In somewhat of a paradox, the sight of Penny inhaling the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) inspired her fellow Breakaways to work as a team and started to create momentum from the backline onwards. Newtown slammed on 3.2.20 to Balmain 0.0.0 to win from behind (reminds the correspondent’s Easts vs St. George game). The final goal by Rebecca McKee (Newtown) from a deliberate out of bounds free kick 5m from goals on the sideline was stuff that every footballer dreams about. The correspondent actually does agree with the umpire on the deliberate out of bounds call, which rates up there with Carlton's Wayne Harmes 1979 grand final disputed boundary line play.
When the final siren went Newtown erupted with joy, whilst Balmain heads were bowed. In hindsight Balmain had many chances to win the game but was unable to kill off Newtown in the final quarter. Best on ground according in his humble opinion were in no particular order: Natalie Morgan (Dockers), Karla Spilarewicz (Dockers) and Amanda Jenkins (Newtown).
All the spectators (about fifty) were amazed at the nature of the game with numerous one-on-one physical contests. It seemed that every player was accountable for someone on their opposing team and the matchups were fairly even.
Congratulations to Newtown and thanks to Balmain for hosting a wonderful venue. Thanks also to St John’s, NSW Ambulance Service and City of Sydney parks department.
Final score: Newtown Breakaways 6.9.45 to Balmain 5.12.42
Last Modified on 11/07/2008 23:16