By James Polson (Armidale Express, 02/05/2008)
The New England Nomads had a win in their round four clash with Gunnedah at Wolseley Oval on Saturday.

The Nomads came out on the right side of a 14-13-97 to 11-10-76 ledger.

The win wasn’t without its disappointments for the Armidale club however, with the Nomads blowing a 60-point halftime lead to allow the Bulldogs to get right back into the game.

The score was 6-3-39 to 0-1-1 at the end of the first quarter, 10-9-69 to 1-3-9 at halftime and 12-11-83 to 6-6-42 at three-quarter time.

Nomads coach Brendan Meehan said things went ‘pear-shaped’ somewhere after halftime.

“We started off really well but it all turned around,” he said.

“I don’t know if it was a bit of complacency by everyone but Gunnedah got themselves right back into the game.

“We had an eight or nine goal lead at one stage and only ended up winning by three.”

“The first half was really good, we ran well and the teamwork was good, everything we asked of them they did, the second quarter started off a bit slow but once we got going we played well again.

“We’ve had two games where we’ve struggled for numbers and yesterday we had a full 20 so maybe it was just first-game things, hopefully we can just build on it.”

Meehan said Weston Whitby was best on park for the Nomads, kicking a number of goals alongside Rich Malone, Clint Ballagh and, in his first game for the club, back Nick Schultz.

“We had other goalkickers throughout the game but they were probably the main four I’d single out,” he said.

The Nomads head into this weekend’s home clash with Tamworth with no injury worries to speak of.

“The Gunnedah game was good in that way,” Meehan said.

“We’ll be looking to play a full game of football, not half a game of football.”

The game is a big one for the Nomads, with the club celebrating their 10th anniversary and the AFL holding its annual Community Football Weekend from May 9-11.

Sydney Swans players Heath Grundy and Jared Moore will be on hand for the match, to be played at Bellevue Oval from 2pm.

Not for reproduction except by permission of the Armidale Express

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