Lions finish on top
After 4 consecutive wins, the Woods were halted in their tracks by a rampant Torrens Valley side in Round 14 of the Hills Division 1 competition last Saturday. Blackwood travelled to Mt Pleasant in a big game for both sides as they were sitting 2nd and 3rd respectively before the start of the game. After some heavy rain in the days leading up to the match, the ground presented as a mud pit in patches and a swimming pool in others.
Torrens Valley has been a bogey side for the Woodsmen since they joined the Division 1 ranks of the Hills Football League in 2011. In the 5 previous matches played away against the Lions, the Woods had only recorded one win. Blackwood started kicking towards the southern end of the ground and was immediately on the back foot in the match. Lead by their stocky midfielders, Torrens Valley made a strong start kicking 6 goals in the first quarter to completely blow the game out of the water.
The Lions players made the conditions looks almost perfect as they ran much harder than the Blackwood side, winning first possession in the centre square and bombing it deep into the forward line. The Woods defence was under pressure and couldn’t get it past the strong wall set up by Torrens Valley. The only goal of the quarter came through half forward Michael Minuzzo who crumbed the pack in one of the rare inside 50 entries for the quarter, soccering the ball off the ground from the top of the goal square.
Coach Salievic let loose at his players during the first break urging them to lift their intensity if they were any hope of getting back into the match. The second quarter resembled the first quarter and the Lions ran riot across the ground with the likes of Montgomery who was back from playing league football at Glenelg. Torrens Valley managed to kick another 4 goals to 1 for the Woods (which came through a nice snap from Jesse Watchman) to all but secure the victory before half time.
The small crowd in attendance managed to stay around for the remainder of the match despite the cold, to see the Lions boot another 7 goals in the second half to only 2 for the Woods. When the final siren blew the scoreboard read a miserable sight for Blackwood, recording a 92 point loss, 17.17.119 to 4.3.27 and the 5 consecutive loss of the road for the Woods against Torrens Valley.
The best players for the Woods were Daniel Benson who battled hard around the midfield all day in only his 6th A Grade match, Adam Ridley, Ryan Anderson and Matt Waldron. The game was one the Woods would want to forget very quickly. Although conditions weren’t the best, the Woods were beaten all over the ground with Torrens Valley able win the ball out of the midfield for most of the day and as a result have most of the play in their forward line.
In other results, it was a better weekend of the other sides with the B Grade, Senior, Junior & Mini Colts & U12’s all recording victories.
Round 15 sees the Woods back at home against Onkaparinga Valley in a big set of games, whilst the C Grade travel to Ironbank on Sunday for a semi-final clash against Ironbank.
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Last Modified on 27/07/2016 17:14