The New England Nomads lost to Inverell at Inverell on Saturday in a very disappointing display. The final margin was 95 points and this reflected the difference between the two teams on the day.

The match started evenly with the Saints scoring some early goals to which the Nomads replied fairly quickly. At this stage the backs were holding up well, despite the lack of drive out of the middle for the Nomads. However, a late surge meant that the Saints were four goals up at the first change. The Nomads’ situation was worsened at this point by Weston Whitby having to return to Armidale.

The second quarter was a grind and the Saints managed to graft three goals while the Nomads could only manage two points (both of which were posters). At this stage, however, the Nomads were not playing too badly and a revival still seemed possible.

It was the third quarter which put the result beyond doubt with the Saints scoring six goals to the Nomads solitary major. The backs were under tremendous pressure and whenever the Nomads were able to go forward, the shots inevitably hit the post (according to my recollection, the Nomads hit the posts seven times in the match).

The final quarter saw the Nomads restore some pride, limiting the Saints to four goals whilst kicking two themselves. It was a good effort to hold them back at this point since, at one stage, it did look like the deficit might have really blown out in the final term. The backline, in particular, are to be commended for continuing to battle on.

Best players for the Nomads were Riley Connor (playing in the back line much of the time), Zac Economou, Jon Freund, Stubbsy, Rowdy and Lockie McLeod. It is to be hoped that the Nomads regroup this week and try to recover the form that had them on the top of the table for the first half of the season.

Round 11 2012

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 at 6:56 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.