The Northern Blues Amateurs survived wet and windy conditions to defeat a vastly improved South Mornington by 118-points at Ruthven Reserve on Saturday.
The Blues blooded two debutants in hard nut Matt Thompson and under-19 Thom Evans in the clash, both performing solidly in the 22. 16 (148) to 4. 6 (30) victory.
Northern burst from the race in the first quarter by kicking seven unanswered goals, midfielder James King acting as the catalyst with three goals to quarter time.
However, keen to make amends for their slow start the Tiger’s managed three majors in the second quarter to return some respectability to the score-line despite some agile intercepts from defender Daniel Wakim.
Leading by 51 at half time, Northern winger Damon Marcon said the message at the major break was to make sure the team didn’t take their foot off the gas.
“We needed to re-focus on the task and make sure we didn’t continue to allow Mornington to get first to the ball,” Marcon said.
“They’ve improved a lot since the first time we played them, they showed a ton of sprit.”
Acting on their newfound concentration, the Blues responded in the third quarter with another seven unanswered goals among 12 scoring shots.
Marcon kicked four goals in the match to take his season tally to 53 goals, drawing within four of the competitions leading goal-scorer Nick Beluszar.
Full-forward Lachlan McRedmond – who sits seventh on the goal-kicking table - also added five goals among nine Northern scorers for the afternoon.
Hard-bodied midfielders Tony Vuwai and Matt Holmes exercised their toughness at the contest for the Blues to share best afield honours.
South Mornington’s Nathan Coy battled hard all afternoon is his side’s loss, playing in both the senior and reserve’s matches due to a lack of numbers.
Scott Zorpy also presented well in the forward-line for the Tigers, making the most of their limited inside 50 opportunities.
The result is an immense improvement for the winless Tigers after succumbing to the Blues by 203-points in a scoreless loss in Round 7.
The Blues are still second on the ladder following the convincing win, trailing Emmaus St Leos by 29 percent.
Next week the seniors will face third-placed Aquinas College at Ruthven Reserve starting at 11:40am.
The last time the two sides met the Northern Blues prevailed by 11-points in a close contest at Aquinas College.
“They were a really tough challenge last time we met,” said Marcon. “With second on the ladder up for grabs this week will should be no different.”
GOALS: L. McRedmond 5, D. Marcon 4, J. King 3, D. Calcedo 2, T. Vuwai 2, M. Holmes 2, J. Warwick 2, O. Clark, J. Phelan
BEST:M. Holmes, T. Vuwai, D. Marcon, J. Hull, T. Evans, M. Cigagna
NORTHERN BLUES: 7.4 11.5 18.10 22.16 (148)
SOUTH MORNINGTON 0.1 3.2 3.3 4.6 (30)
Last Modified on 25/08/2014 23:07