Taylors Lakes produced its best four-quarter performance of the Essendon District Football League division 1 season on Saturday against Oak Park.
With a number of key outs at selection time, the match was a danger outing for the Lions against a side that had yet to win a match.
After an even first quarter and a half, the Lions kicked four goals in four minutes to lead by four goals at half-time.
The Lions increased the lead in both the third and fourth quarters to win 22.14 (146)-12.12 (84).
Lions’ coach Sam Tankard said he was a little worried about the game during the week.
Mark Micallef, Tristan Rudic, Riza Gashi, Liam Johnstone and Harry Charters all came out of the team from the previous round.
“The guys who came in did well and we produced our best team performance of the season,” he said.
Tankard said the Lions went into the match determined to make sure they were in the game at half-time.
With the Kangaroos playing their third game in 14 days, the Lions were hoping they would tire.
“We needed to stay strong … we thought we may be able to break them,” Tankard said. “It was a bit of a shoot-out early on. Then four goals in four minutes broke the game open.”
Tankard was happy with the third and fourth quarters, with his side kicking eight second-half goals. The scoreline is one of the Lions’ biggest in recent years, with the new-look forward line starting to gel.
Joseph McGrath, Rhys Deacon and Nicholas Franzi kicked four goals apiece for the Lions.
Tankard said they knew they had the scoring power up forward – it had simply been a case of putting it all together.
The win moves the Lions to 2-2 and they’re showing they won’t be pushovers this season.
“We know that we can definitely match-up well against anyone,” Tankard said.
Tankard said they would have some selection headaches in the next few weeks, with seven players to return.
They include captain Anthony Longo, who is yet to play this season.
In other results, Hillside easily accounted for Westmeadows.
In division 2, Burnside Heights got its best ever win by defeating Coburg Districts.
Keilor had a bye in premier division.
