Magpies swoop Woods at Windy Hill
Saturday the 21st of May 2016 saw the much anticipated Round 7 Hills Football League fixture between Blackwood and Hahndorf at Blackwood Hill Oval. Both clubs had pencilled this match in as a key match when the draw was released at the beginning of the year. Blackwood entered the round with two changes, with Adam Ridley and Mark Reynolds out through injury replaced by Sam Fotheringham and Brad Jones. Under perfect conditions with a slight breeze, Blackwood won the toss and elected to kick up the hill towards the club room end of the ground.
The big crowd in attendance through the 25 year premiership reunion was eager to see how the home side would match up against the reigning premiers and undefeated side in Hahndorf. The match started in a real arm wrestle with both sides unable to impact the scoreboard in the opening 7 minutes of the game with tight contests being a feature. It took until the 8th minute where power forward Darcy Hourigan converted truly from a 50 metre bomb to get the scoring under way. Blackwood got the next centre clearance and reply through mid-sized forward Michael Minuzzo to get the ball rolling. Blackwood had been making slow starts in most games this season, but came out of the blocks in the first putting on another three goals to take a 9 point lead into the first change.
Hahndorf coach Craig Smith gave his troops a strong talking to at the first break with lots of finger pointing to the statistics and messages written on the whiteboard being held up the assistant coach. The visitors responded straight away piling on three goals in 4 minutes to rip the momentum from Blackwood. The rest of the quarter turned into an arm wrestle as Blackwood fought back through rebounding defence from Scott Bricknell and Kurt Thompson. Ryan Anderson showed he is a valuable recruit for the Woods providing tremendous pressure up forward. The half time siren blew with Hahndorf turning a 9 point deficit into an 8 point lead at the main break.
Hahndorf came out the better team in the third quarter getting on top in the midfield through Mail Medallist Scott Paul, Michael Handby and young gun Dylan Matsen. Some inaccurate kicking kept Blackwood in the game as Hahndorf booted 3.6.24 to 1.2.8 for the quarter to extend their lead to 24 points at the final change.
The 1991 premiership reunion joined the Blackwood huddle at the final change to encourage the new crop of Blackwood players on. As had occurred in previous quarters the quarter was an arm wrestle with neither side able to get on top of the other. Two goals to Jesse Watchman drew the home side to within two goals as 20 minutes ticked over. Blackwood threw everything at Hahndorf pumping the ball inside the forward 50 line. They had their chances in the final few minutes however were unable to take them with Ryan Anderson and Scott Bricknell kicking behinds. Hahndorf swiftly moved the ball up the other end of the oval where Darcy Hourigan who had been an imposing figure all match was able to boot the match winner and secure the 2 points for Hahndorf. When the final siren blew Hahndorf recorded a 17 point victory, 12.9.81 to 9.10.64.
The best players for the home side were Ryan Anderson who booted three goals including a miraculous goal from the pocket in front of the club rooms in the opening quarter, James Catford through the midfield, Scott Bricknell, Jake Atkinson and Kurt Thompson.
It was a high standard match with both sides applying immense pressure to the ball carrier. The difference in the game was definitely the big forward Darcy Hourigan as when Hahndorf were able to get the ball inside 50, he was able to clunk big marks and convert truly. Blackwood aren’t far off the mark, they have some very talented players and good depth. Their three losses for the season have been close games and if they can get it right and not have bad patches in matches they could be a major feature in the latter half of the season.
In other results for the club, it wasn’t a good weekend with the B Grade, Senior & Junior Colts all having losses, whilst the mini colts recorded a 6 goal victory. Round 8 sees Blackwood travel to play Mt Barker in a match that could define the season, whilst the C Grade travel to Milang to take on the Milang Panthers.
#REDANDGREEN2016
Last Modified on 24/05/2016 16:38