Mallee Eagles finals hopes took a savage hit when they had to settle for a draw in their must-win game against Nyah-Nyah West United.
The sixth-placed Eagles were forced to come from behind with a six goal to two final quarter to share the points with the Demons in a see-sawing affair on a windswept Lalbert Recreation Reeserve.
Despite kicking into the strong breeze in the final quarter, it appeared NNW’s game to lose when Tim O’Brien slotted an excellent goal from the boundary to open up a 31-point lead.
But the injury-ravaged Mallee team lifted, peeling off the next four goals to drag the margin back to just six points by mid-way through the last quarter. A steadying goal to United’s Jaydyn Stirling gave the ascendency back to the Demons, before the Eagles again responded in quick fashion to again trail by just one goal with five minutes left on the clock.
With their season on the line and the clock continuing to tick, the Lalbert faithful were starting to get a little nervous. That was until an infringement by the Demons – and a resultant 50-metre penalty – brought Ayden Tessari to within scoring range. Tessari coolly split the big sticks from the resultant free kick to level scores – which is where they stayed until the full-time siren.
NNW United senior coach Corey Daniels said while he was disappointed not to get the full four points, neither team really deserved to lose.
“It was pretty even all day to be honest, the team that was kicking with the breeze tended to dominate for that period – they (the Eagles) probably played the better footy in the first half, but then I felt we probably played the better footy after half time,” Daniels said.
“It was probably a just result in the end – if either side had of lost, then I think whoever did probably would have felt a bit hard done by.
“It was a game where neither side really deserved to lose in the end, it was a scrappy game of footy and while it wasn’t the result we were looking for, there were still plenty of positives to take from it.”
The performance of the Demons’ back six was a clear positive, with Cal Dobbin managing to restrict Eagles spearhead Sam Dunstan – who kicked 10 goals the last time these teams met – to just two majors this time around.
Fellow defender Ben Shadbolt’s game on Toby Sheahan was also important, as was Brady Davidson’s run with game on dominant Eagles midfielder Harry Allen and Jarrod Skinner’s strong ball winning effort through the midfield and up forward.
“I thought around the ball we played pretty well and our back six held up really well all day – it was always going to be a challenge for us to find avenues to goal in the absence of Brent (Arho), but we were able to find a way to impact the scoreboard and our younger boys really stood up when the game was on the line, which was another positive,” Daniels said.
Ayden Tessari was again sensational with his run and drive off half back for the Eagles, as was Jack Shannahan in his first game back from a hamstring injury.
Mallee Eagles assistant Ccach Harry Allen shared much the same sentiments as Daniels, with the former Jack Betts Medallist disappointed not to get the four points.
“We’ll take what we can get really – I thought we did a pretty good job kicking into the wind in the first quarter, I thought we were well in control for the first bit but we probably didn’t make the most of our opportunities,” Allen said.
“Nyah took their chances throughout the day, where as our skill execution probably wasn’t quite where it needed to be at times and when we did turn it over, they made us pay – we were pretty inaccurate in front of goal at times too which didn’t help our cause.”
“To the boys’ credit we managed to fight back late and scrap out a draw, so we’ll take that – we probably should have been ahead early on but credit to them (NNW United) as they took it up to us and probably deserved the win as much as we did in the end.”
VOTES
3 – Ayden Tessari (Mallee Eagles)
2 – Cal Dobbin (NNW United)
1 – Jarrod Skinner (NNW United)
MATCH RESULTS
MALLEE EAGLES 1.6 4.9 4.11 10.13.73
NNW UNITED 4.0 5.1 9.6 11.7.73
GOALS – MALLEE EAGLES – Andrew McDonald 3, Sam Dunstan 2, Harry Allen, Beau Bennett, Jake Foster, Ethan Pinchen, Ayden Tessari 1.
NNW UNITED – Dean Harrop 3, Corey Daniels 2, Tim O’Brien 2, Brady Davidson, Blake Larkings, Campbell Everitt, Jaydyn Stirling 1.
BEST – MALLEE EAGLES – Ayden Tessari, Jack Shannahan, Toby Sheahan, Luke Doolan, Darcy McGregor, Hamish McGregor
NNW UNITED – Cal Dobbin, Brady Davidson, Charli Boulton, Jarrod Skinner, Benjamin Shadbolt, Jaydyn Stirling.
