A POTENTIALLY season ending injury to star defender Olivia Fowler may have dented Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s finals hopes, with the Saints suffering a six-goal loss to Koondrook-Barham on Saturday.
Fowler suffered the game ending ankle injury in the opening minutes of the match, with Ally Grace and Amy Standen stepping in at goal defence in her absence.
Fowler’s injury was clearly a factor in Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s slow start, with the Raiders racing to a six-goal lead at quarter time.
The Saints steadied after the first change but were unable to bridge the gap, with Koondrook-Barham eventually securing a 51-45 victory.
The win sees the Raiders retain their second place on the Central Murray ladder heading into the final round, while Tooleybuc-Manangatang also remain in the top five after Cohuna were unable to overcome Kerang on the weekend.
While acknowledging that “it probably wasn’t our best game,” Koondrook-Barham joint coach Emma Peacock was still pleased with her team’s efforts and their ability to remain consistent across her team’s four quarter effort.
“We kept our intensity throughout the whole game and we didn’t drop away in that area, but our main area of strength was our consistency,” Peacock said post-match.
“We dropped a few balls here and there, but we didn’t have any bad patches or periods of play where we allowed them to gain momentum.
“They (Tooleybuc-Manangatang) were very competitive, they didn’t give up and there were a few nervous moments in the third quarter when they came at us really hard.
“They had the drive for it and probably wanted it more than we did, but overall I thought we had a bit more consistency through the court than they had, which helped us, but they played exceptional netball.”
The injury to Fowler wasn’t the only bad news for Tooleybuc-Manangatang supporters, with the Saints also losing gun midcourter Jayda Plant to injury in the closing stages, according to coach Mel Wait.
“Jayda fell in the last five minutes and hurt her wrist and we’ll just have to wait and see about her,” Wait said.
“We got back to within one goal but it just blew out in the end.
“Our style of game really held up but we just made a few errors at crucial times
“Everyone played their role, but Emily (Siely) did a great job on Emma Peacock.”
For Koondrook-Barham, goal attack Sophie Disher earned special praise from Peacock, along with Sophie Peacock, who contained Zoe Morris to just 17 goals for the match.
“Sophie Disher played very well and made more intercepts in attack than I did in defence to be honest,” Peacock said.
“She (Disher) did exceptionally well, and Erin (Moerenhout) held her space very well also and Sophie was matched up very well against Zoe.
“Summer Blachford didn’t miss a shot on goal all day and it was pretty fortunate of us to shut down some of their play going into their attacking third, because once they got it into their ring they scored.
“Those three girls were all really good contributors for us though.”
FINAL WHISTLE
| TOOLEYBUC-MANANGANTANG | 45 |
|---|---|
| KOONDROOK-BARHAM | 51 |
