The Nomads struggled to overcome an understrength Gunnedah Bulldogs side at a breezy Bellevue Oval, but eventually won by 14.12 (96) to 11.6 (72).

In the first half New England played woefully – with poor decision making, poor execution and with little movement. Time and again Nomad kicks went to contests while the Dogs kicked to open men. On the occasions that the easy ball was played to a free player, there were no runners coming by or leads ahead. Very disappointing.

Trailing by a point at half time, the Nomads kicked a couple of early goals in the third quarter and appeared to be starting to click. Maybe they were introduced to one another in the break. Unfortunately an enforced break while one of the Bulldogs was carried off seemed to break their concentration and the Bulldogs rallied in the closing minutes of the third quarter.

The Nomads finally took control in the fourth quarter, a good start giving them a 4 goal cushion that was sufficient to see them home.

Goalscorers for the Nomads were Glen Northway (4 goals), Rich Malone (3), Matt Bouffler (2), Adrian Walsh (2), Hamish Robertson, Anthony Reid and Matt Maxwell.

Winner of the Players’ Player award was Dave MacLellan who did a great job closing down the Bulldogs’ full-forward, who had been having a field day. Winners of the other match day awards for the Nomads were Matt Maxwell (Coach’s award), Clint Ballagh (Captain’s award) and Glen Northway (President’s award). Other good performers were Hamish Robertson, Mitch Penberthy, Rich Malone and Jay Dunlop.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Match report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.