Story- Dave MacLellan, Photo- Mel Gatsby
The New England Nomads crashed to a heavy defeat to the Inverell Saints at Varley Oval on Saturday. The Nomads should have expected a hard-fought game and yet appeared shell-shocked going in to the second quarter with an almost eight goal deficit. The second term saw a siege on the Nomads backline, who managed to restrict the Saints decent scoring opportunities. Improved speed, better decision making and skills saw the Nomads score five goals while Inverell only managed one goal and six behinds.

The second half was an Inverell procession towards goal and the Nomads struggled for clean possession and open space. Injuries and a lack of fitness were costly leaving Weston Whitby alone and double-marked in the forward line, with little support arriving to help. When the final siren sounded the Nomads had 8-4-52 to Inverell’s 18-19-127.

Next week the New England Nomads will host the Muswellbrook Cats at Bellevue Oval, with both teams winless and outside the top four on the ladder. New England will again rely on non-regular players, all of whom excelled on Saturday, to back up the club during the tough University holidays. They will hope to welcome back some stars as Anthony Reid is rested, although this season he has been ably supported by new recruit, ruck man Josh Keogh (pictured).

New England Nomads host Muswellbrook Cats at Bellevue Oval, Armidale on Saturday, 2pm. Full food and drinks available. All strongly encouraged to attend.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 4:25 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.