By Lance Jenkinson
Albanvale has been in hot pursuit of Glen Orden for the best part of 16 weeks in the Western Region Football League division 3.
The Cobras have lurked in the grass, waiting for their time to pounce and they finally reeled them in on Saturday, coming from 30 points down at quarter-time to beat Glen Orden in the top-of-the-ladder clash and move into first place for the first time this season.
Cobras coach Andrew Bryson was delighted with the pressure-filled game his team produced in a blockbuster fixture with plenty on the line.
“I couldn’t be happier with their effort,” he said. “We just had our competitive edge.
“It was constant pressure.”
Albanvale was in trouble at quarter-time, trailing by five goals. The Cobras did not panic though because the effort was there, but their execution was letting them down.
“Even in the first quarter, we still had a fair share of the footy, but we just weren’t clean with it and made some poor decisions,” Bryson said.
“We just had to focus and they did that for the next three quarters to not only get us back in the game, but ultimately ended up getting us over the line.”
Bryson pointed to Albanvale’s fitness as a key factor in the win.
He felt the Cobras ran the game out better and it showed with a six-goal-to-three second half.
“We started to see an opportunity to out-run them probably halfway through the third quarter,” Bryson said.
“Once we saw we had that over them, we wanted to exploit that as much as we could.”
Leading a low-scoring game by five points at three-quarter time, Albanvale sealed victory with a two-goal-to-one last quarter.
PHOTO GALLERY: Albanvale vs Glen Orden
David Azzopardi had a big impact with three goals on the Cobras forward line.
Azzopardi could have helped himself to a bag of goals if not for his inaccuracy.
“I said to him at one point in the game, you’re leading well, you’re winning the footy, keep doing that and the rest will come,” Bryson said.
“It ended up working out that way.
“Not only was he able to present and win the footy, he was able to convert.”
Ricky Cameron, Daniel Backus and Kym Taylor were superb for Albanvale.
Cameron continued his good form in the midfield, Backus was “hard in the trenches” and Taylor was able to burst away from the packs.
Daniel Bartolo and Dean Pace snared two goals apiece.
Albanvale is not planning for a short stay at the top, but it will need to be at the top of its game against Braybrook, always a danger side this season.
“They’ve got a good list,” Bryson said.
“They could rattle a few sides, including us.”
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