ROUND 18 REVIEW
East Brighton 10.13-73 defeated Bentleigh 7.13-55
East Brighton have jumped from 7th to 5th on the Under 19s ladder after their victory over Bentleigh, bypassing the Demons and Endeavour Hills to secure an Elimination Final row with Parkmore / Springvale Districts.
East Brighton had the front foot at the first break, but the home side were able to scramble a response in the second term with a 1.6 to 1.2 scoreline. Inaccuracies in front of goal for Bentleigh prevented would could have been a more convincing margin, as they trailed by one point at the main break.
In the third term, the visitors booted 4.4 to the Demon’s 2.3, and with their best Fraser Young in form, and Nathan Foster dangerous in the forward line (four goals for the match) it was clear the Vampires were accepting nothing short of a ticket to the Elimination Final.
Despite best attempts from Demon Shehan Gunasekera, and a competitive final term (3.2 to East Brighton’s 3.6), damage in the premiership quarter proved costly for Bentleigh, eventually going down by 18 points in an honourable effort.
East Brighton take the next step towards an underdog premiership when they face Parkmore / Springvale in a sudden death Saturday.
St Kilda City 10.11-71 defeated Endeavour Hills 6.7-43
Endeavour Hills have been knocked from fifth place and out of a finals berth at the hands of St Kilda City, going down by 28 points in a tough home hit out.
Scott Myers and Amin Taniwal exhausted all avenues for a dogged Endeavour Hills, who fell victim to a side undeniably looking to rectify Grand Final heartbreak in 2017.
Blake Crichton was the stand out for the winning side, alongside teammate Matthew McNaughton who booted four. This takes McNaughton’s home and away season tally to 40 goals – five behind fellow Saint Alex Mills who currently tops the list in the competition with 45.
Dingley 11.20-86 defeated Oakleigh District 3.8-26
Dingley appear untouchable heading into the finals series, running over last year’s premiers by a whopping 60 points at home.
The end result was difficult to envision, with a solid contest in the first term only favouring Dingley by 14 points.
However, once the Dingoes had a taste of a potentially huge defeat, they continued to run over a visibly shaken Oakleigh outfit – booting 5.9 to the visitor’s 1.7 in the second half.
Trailing by 23 points at three quarter time, the crowd expected a classic Oakleigh comeback, but they were nowhere to be seen as Alex Windhager, Rory Goldsmith and Remmi Faulkner-Wood (four goals) proved nightmarish for the 2017 premiers.
Brett Crane again starred for his side in a fantastic effort, but the entire Oakleigh outfit lacked their usual spark - perhaps a card due to re appear this week in their Grand Final rematch against St Kilda City.
Parkmore / Springvale defeated Keysborough via forfeit.