By Michael Shillito
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After a three-game winning streak, Campbelltown had dealt themselves back into finals contention. But their finals hopes received a severe blow, and UNSW-ES kept theirs alive, as the Bulldogs took a convincing 71-point over the Blues; a result that opens up a six-point break between Sydney Uni and the teams challenging for the last finals spot.
The pressure was intense in the early exchanges, the tackles hard and the scores hard to come by. Just one goal apiece was scored in the first quarter, in a game that at that stage looked to be a hard-fought slog. The Blues were leading by a point at quarter time, but the Bulldogs emerged from the quarter time huddle full of running, and it didn’t take long for the look of the game to change completely.
On the massive Monarch surface, suddenly the Bulldogs found room to move and targets began to present themselves up forward. Leads were being made, unmarked players running into space; and the Blues had no answer to the relentless Bulldog juggernaut. The Bulldogs were making it look easy as they completed a run of seven goals to one in the second term; leading by 37 points at the long break.
There was no way back for the Blues in the third term. They created more scoring chances during the quarter, and converted three of them into goals; but the Bulldogs had the form and momentum running their way to score four for the quarter and extend their lead to 43 points at the last change. And the final quarter was one-way traffic, UNSW-ES at their unstoppable best as they shut down the Blues completely to score four unanswered goals and turn the game into a comprehensive victory.
A 71-point win was fair reward for what had been a dominant performance for the last three quarters. The decisive goal-kicking boot was on the foot of Alex Foote as he kicked six goals in a best-on-ground performance; while Abayna Davis and Tom Dickson were also prominent performers for the Bulldogs. Aidan Bell, Jeconiah Peni and Luke Vella had toiled hard all afternoon for the Blues, but it was a disappointing performance for a side that had ambitions of a finals place. Thanks to their superior percentage, the Bulldogs leap-frog the Blues to sixth place; but are still six points behind Sydney Uni.
Last Modified on 22/07/2014 10:18