Saturday’s ‘Match of the Round’ lived up to it’s billing with the clash between premiership favourites the Inverell Saints and the New England Nomads going down to the wire.
The match started at a frantic pace with the Nomads getting the better start thanks to some great work at the centre clearances from Dave Graan and Cameron Grigg. Across the ground the Nomads were getting plenty of run and drive from wingers Riley Connor and Velani Chakalisa whilst big full forward Simon Stubbs was stamping his authority on the game early and the Nomads headed into the first change with a six point lead. The Saints came out firing in the second quarter and fought their way back into the contest.Their size advantage was causing problems at the clearances enabling the Inverell midfield to bombard the Nomads defence. The Saints recorded five goals for the quarter and it could have been even more if not for the resilience being shown by Nomads key defenders Zac Economou and Tom Granleese and the run and carry from skipper Clint Ballagh and Jon Frost. The Nomads managed to kick three of their own goals despite having little possession and their quick, rebounding footy proved valuable as they went into the main break only five points down.
During the half time break the heavens opened up and what greeted the players upon their return was driving rain and freezing conditions and this played into the hands of the Nomads ‘Speedsters’. The likes of Graan, Connor, Benji Julien and Weston Whitby started to move the ball very quickly in the wet conditions and the fast pace stretched their oponents. The quick entry to the Nomads forward line played right into the Nomads key forwards hands with centre half forward Shaun Cusack dominating in the atrocious conditions and kicking truly to put the Nomads in control heading into the final change.
With the Nomads taking only a six point lead into the final term coach Granleese pleaded with his young charges to stand up and fight for a valuable victory and that is exactly what they did. The quarter turned into a war of attrition with all players from both sides throwing themselves at every contest trying to get that valuable possession and kick their team forward and in the end the Nomads pace and the experience of big men Stubbs and Cusack in the forward line and Economou, Granleese and Walsh in defence prevailed as they hung on for a famous four point victory in front of a bouyant home crowd who had braved the cold blustery conditiont to cheer their team home.

Round 5 2012

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012 at 12:46 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.