Tara Murray
Albanvale was left frustrated after blowing its chances to beat the Suns in the Western Region Football League division 3 on Saturday.
Having lost the first meeting between the sides, the Cobras were the better team for much of the match up on Saturday.
One thing would prove the difference in the match, conversion in front of goal.
The accurate Suns ended up getting across the line, winning 12.3 (75)-8.13 (61).
For Cobras coach Nick Smith, the match is one that got away.
“It was frustrating,” he said. “We felt like we dominated most of the game but we couldn’t make them pay.
“They executed really well, kicking 12.3, which doesn’t happen many times either. As they say, bad kicking is bad football.”
Smith said the most frustrating part was there weren’t any excuses for the poor kicking in front of goal.
He said they were getting shots in good spots and where they wanted to have shots on goal from.
Matthew Taylor kicked three goals for the Cobras, while Reece Field got two goals.
He said captain Jacob Maschewski was fantastic on Saturday, while a number of defenders were good despite some conceding some goals.
He said Corey Hall and Tito Nyawela were some of the other standouts.
While disappointed, Smith said there were some positives to take out of the match.
“We feel like there are some good signs and there’s things that we are still working on,” he said. “We had the game on our terms and we were sharing the ball and had lots of opportunities to score.
“We were just disappointed with our ability to finish. We’ve played them twice and haven’t been blown off the park. We’re looking forward to playing them for a third time.”
The loss has the Cobras now sitting a game behind the Suns at the top of the ladder. Sunshine Heights sits equal on points with the Cobras, but has played one extra match.
Smith said they wanted to make sure that they sealed a top two spot in the back part of the season.
“We rate them,” he said of the Dragons. “They are a good side and we don’t think the top two races are over by any stretch.
“We want to ensure a top two spot and a fourth crack at the Suns in the first week of finals.”
Smith, who is in his first season as coach of the Cobras, said they were happy with the season so far.
“It’s explaining to the players, we are losing games, not the other teams winning the games,” he said.
“That’s hard to plan for as sometimes. We’re still in second spot, hopefully we can lock that away and have a real crack come finals.”
The Cobras this Saturday face North Sunshine.
The Roadrunners had a 30.20 (200)-6.2 (38) loss to Sunshine Heights on Saturday.
Kyall Parker kicked 13 goals in a best on ground performance.
West Footscray was the other winner on Saturday.
