Cohuna have continued to stake their claim as the Central Murray’s big improvers, defeating the Mallee Eagles by just one goal in a heart-stopping, come-from-behind victory.
It was the Kangas’ fourth straight win, with the 41-40 victory moving Cohuna two games clear inside the top five after the first five rounds.
It also was the second week in a row that the Mallee Eagles had been involved in a thrilling one-goal ball game, after the Eagles defeated NNW United 36-35 just seven days earlier.
The win sets up a blockbuster encounter between Cohuna and reigning premiers Swan Hill this Saturday, with Kangas coach Georgia Anderson excited by the challenge that awaits her team.
“Saturday will be a huge test, obviously (Lake) Boga are up there too this season, but Swan Hill are always a tough opponent to beat,” Anderson said.
“That’s a good thing for us, as sometimes you need to play against the best to find out where you really are at as a team.
“We’ll go in with the mentality that we have nothing to lose, we’ll just give it our best and see what happens.
“I’m pretty happy with Saturday’s result, we didn’t have any expectations and I just reminded them that we are a new team with nothing to lose, the girls went in with a really good mentality to just attack the game and thankfully we were able to get the job done after halftime.”
With the match in the balance, the Kangas were able to edge their nose in front at the start of the final minute, before some extraordinary defence from young goal defender Ebony Black and goalkeeper Carly Geary denied the Eagles a final goal.
Cohuna were forced to fight their way back into the match after a sluggish start, with the Kangas trailing by seven goals at quarter time and nine goals early in the second quarter.
While the slow start will be of some concern to Anderson, it was her team’s ability to fight back and stay in the contest that impressed, with the Kangas continuing their trend of finishing games strongly this season.
“We turned it on in the second half and we’ve been doing that a bit lately, our attacking end seems to really hit their straps in the second halves and when we find our rhythm, we’re hard to stop,” Anderson said.
“We need to work on our starts though, because you don’t want to be relying on fighting back in the second half every week, but it’s exciting to know that we can do it and we play very good netball when we do do it.
“We just hung in there in the first half and while they (Mallee Eagles) were on top on the scoreboard, we knew if we hung in there we’d still be a chance.
“They were still making mistakes like us and then in the second half we just got a bit of a roll on and made our opportunities count.”
While both Black and Geary were named as Cohuna’s best players, so too was Mallee Eagles goal shooter Megan Thorneycroft, who shot a remarkable 34 of her team’s 40 goals.
The Kangas were forced into a restructure before the game as Taylor Hird was missing from the line-up, with Anderson opting for Lily Guerrin to take over the vacant wing attack bib, before Anthea Toma and Maddi Black filled the wing attack position throughout the later stages of the match.
For the Eagles, midcourter Alicia Harvey was among their better players, along with defenders Laura Sheahan and Nevaeh Roberts, who returned after missing the Eagles’ win over the Demons.
While Cohuna will next face Swan Hill in a top-three battle, the Eagles come up against a Kerang team who is still looking for their first win.
FINAL WHISTLE
COHUNA 41
MALLEE EAGLES 40
