The Blackwood Football Club continued its winning form during Round 6 of the Mortgage Choice Hills Football League recording a 51 point away victory over the Lobethal Tigers. The win was the Woods fourth successive victory over the Tigers. Coach Damien Salievic was in a happy mood after the match. “It’s a credit to all players, to be four and two after the injuries we had early on is an outstanding effort”
Travelling to Lobethal Oval for only the second time before Round 10 since 2010, the Woods made three changes to the line-up, Jake Atkinson, Brad Jones and Matt Waldron all returning from injury. Chris Williams also earnt a late reprieve with star midfielder Nick Homburg being a late withdrawal.
Lobethal Oval has been a happy hunting ground for the Woods recording nine wins from thirteen matches against the Tigers since 2006. Kicking towards the northern end of the venue in the first term, the Woods made all of the early attacks. Star player Ryan Anderson got the first major of the match after three minutes. Pushing forward he was able to find space and kicking truly on the run. Blackwood had all the play for the quarter with Jake Atkinson and Ryan Dijksman kicking three more goals for the visitors. The Tigers were struggling to move the ball forward with any impetus with Bricknell, Thompson and Waldron intercepting any long balls from the Tigers.
Speaking at the first break, Coach Damien Salievic urged his side to lift their game despite leading by 25 points. “We must put the team first and follow our team rules. When we let our standards slip it lets opposition sides into the match. We need to communicate better on the field, give more first gives and create more run through movement.”
The Tigers made a better start in the opening part of the second quarter. Looking more dangerous from the midfield the Tigers were able to get numerous forward entries in the early minutes. With the Blackwood defence staying sound, they moved the ball down the clubroom side with speed to find Ben Macreadie lose in the forward 50 arc. He was able to convert truly extend the Woods margin to five goals. The Tigers then had their strongest period of the match kicking two goals in three minutes. The first major came from Tigers recruit Joel Vanveld whilst Jackson Lock drifted forward to kick his first major the Tigers were back in the match. Down on his usual goal kicking form in the opening rounds of the season, Blackwood forward Phil Hopton bobbed to kick two majors for the inaccurate Woods to see his team take a 24 point lead into the half time break.
With the temperature dropping during the half time break, the supporters who made the journey out to Lobethal Oval looked for any warmth they could. The Woods didn’t start cold in the so called ‘premiership quarter’ getting the first goal of the quarter inside two minutes. It came through key forward Jake Atkinson who was working his way into the match, his first of 2018. Once against plagued by inaccuracy the Woods were peppering the goal front but unable to convert. When Phil Hopton and Atkinson kicked two more goals for the Woods, the margin was beginning to blow out. Whilst the Woods were in control of the match, it felt much closer due to the inability of the Woods to convert on the scoreboard. The Tigers got a late goal to pull the margin back to 34 points at the final change.
The Woods once again controlled the football in the final quarter with Hopton kicking his fourth goal of the match early in the quarter. When Atkinson stood tall and grabbed two marks and goals the Woods extended their lead to 50 points with plenty of time left on the clock. Blackwood had been down on their goal scoring in the opening five rounds but this match broke the shackles with the team kicking over 100 points for the first time in the season. When the final siren blew, the visitors recorded a 51 point win, their fourth of 2018. The 51 point victory was the fourth largest victory the Woods have recorded over the Tigers at Lobethal since 2006. Damien Salievic said in the rooms after the match “Despite some inaccuracy it was a great victory today. It was great to lift our scoring output this match and control the game for large periods of the match. We must now recover and move into next week against Mt Barker.”
The match saw the Woods dominate the scoring shots, 35 to 14 and could’ve been a much larger victory if the Woods had kicked straighter. The 35 scoring shots is the second most scoring shots the Woods have had at Lobethal Oval since 2006 (Round 4 of 2017 the team had 40 scoring shots). On return from injury Jake Atkinson was named best player for the Woods kicking five goals, whilst Haydn Kenny, Ryan Dijksman, Jacob McCarthy and Ryan Williams also caught the eye of the coaching staff being named in the best players.
Final scoreboard
Blackwood 4.7 7.13 10.19 14.21 (105)
Lobethal 1.0 5.1 7.3 8.6 (54)
Goals – Atkinson 5, P. Hopton 4, Dijksman 3, Anderson 1. Macreadie 1
Best – Atkinson, Kenny, Dijksman, McCarthy, R. Williams
Other Hills Football League results
B Grade – Blackwood 8.13 (61) defeated Lobethal 5.8 (38)
Senior Colts – Blackwood 16.7 (103) defeated Lobethal 7.4 (46)
Junior Colts – Blackwood 20.10 (130) defeated Lobethal 0.1 (1)
Mini Colts – Blackwood 9.13 (67) defeated Lobethal 2.2 (14)
