Tara Murray
Albion held its nerve late to come away with the points in a thriller against Newport in the Western Region Football League division 2 competition on Saturday.
There wasn’t much between the two teams all day, with scores level heading into the last quarter.
The Cats were able to find another level in the last 10 minutes to keep the ball in their half.
Darcy McPherson was able to get on the end of a ruck tap with about a minute to go to give his side back the lead.
They were able to hold on, winning 10.13 (73)-10.11 (71).
Cats coach Blake Richards said the match showed some of the development the group had made from last season.
“We were lucky enough to get the win,” he said. “It was big for the boys, as last year they lost a lot of close games after being around the mark at three quarter time.
“They were overrun a few times. They were really disciplined and structured and were able to get the win in the end.”
Richards said it was a hard slog all day, with both sides setting really defensive game plans. He said they normally had some defensive structures with their ground being so small and Newport had a similar mindset.
“It was a really highly contested game,” he said. “There was a lot of tacking and both sides set up defensively, so it was a dog fight until the last 10 minutes.”
Christopher Tomazos kicked three goals in the win, while Rual Mabok kicked two goals.
Richards said he was really impressed with the work of Caleb and Darcy McPherson, along with Kevin Upton.
“Caleb with 10 minutes to go put in some really huge efforts,” he said.
“Darcy was tagged for most of the day. He had 14 tackles which was a massive effort. Kevin Upton was a late call up and was good down back.”
The win has the Cats sitting 2-1 after three rounds.
Richards said they were happy with how things had gone so far.
“The Sunshine game we were undisciplined and gave a lot of free kicks and that was the difference in the game,” he said.
“The Braybrook game was pretty big for us and they followed up this week. I’m rapt at the moment.”
The Cats this week face North Footscray. Richards said it would be another good challenge, with North Footscray a team that will be around the mark.
In other matches, Sunbury was too strong for Braybrook, winning 18.21 (129)-6.4 (40). Mathew Medcraft kicked six goals in a best on ground performance.
Parkside in the other division 2 game, beating North Footscray 11.17 (83)-4.5 (29).
Sunshine Heights and Albanvale both had wins in division 3.
