Tara Murray
There’s a sense of relief and excitement for Taylors Lakes as its through to the Essendon District Football League division 2 grand final after winning a hard fought slog with Burnside Heights.
There hasn’t been much between the two teams all season and it was the case on Saturday at Salesian College with the match going down to the dying minutes.
The Bears got out to decent leads twice and the Lions were able to peg them back to come away with an 18.6 (114)-16.7 (103) win.
Lions coach Steve Burns said the side was exactly where it wanted to be at this time of the season.
Early it didn’t look like it would be that way with the Bears kicking five goals to none in the first quarter.
“We weren’t playing anywhere near what we could,” Burns said. “I looked at all the stats and showed them the stats, our contested ball was down, our hunger was down.
“Our ability to get it out of the middle with our midfield which we think is the best in the comp was down.
“Our defenders weren’t sort of playing well and our forward line when it went in, weren’t playing well.
“We just went through everything.”
Burns said they gave the group a little bit of a spray at quarter time, but they didn’t panic having beaten the Bears once before after being five goals down.
He said they knew they didn’t have to get it back in a quarter, but they did and they led by two points at half time.
Nothing could split the two teams in the third quarter with the Bears leading by two points heading into the final game.
Burns said it was a real quality game of football as both sides battled it out.
The Bears got to 20 points up in the last quarter before the Lions dug deep to get over the line.
“I’m really proud of the last quarter effort to get the job done and get up by a couple of goals up at the end,” Burns said.
“We were able to play our game plan and our structure at that stage of the game. For such a young side… really proud.”
Luke Nappi kicked four goals for the Lions and Darby Lalor and Chris Vulic kicked three each.
Burns said Lachie Rayner was unbelievable for the side, Rhys Bradley was a standout on a wing and Vulic did what he normally does.
He said Darby Lalor turned his game around once he went and did a job and was then able to convert on the scoreboard.
It was a costly day for both sides on the injury front.
The Lions lost Raafat Rachrache with a hamstring while Tomi Ibarra was injured late.
For the Bears, Lachie Evans, Dion Lawson and Matthew Larkin all did hamstrings in the first quarter leaving them with one of the bench for the rest of the game.
The Lions now get the week off before the grand final.
The Bears face the winner of Northern Saints and Westmeadows.
Burns said the week off would be a bonus to allow them to rest the guys after a tough match.
