Hillston snatches win in a very close encounter with Blues
Wednesday July 1, 2009
The Cobar Blues’ Rohan Lloyd (pictured centre) hot-on-the-heels of his opposition
during the close encounter AFL match against Hillston at Ward Oval on Saturday.
Hillston ran out five point winners in the final minutes of the match.
The Cobar Blues AFL side was at home to the Hillston Swans on Saturday in a very close encounter with Hillston snatching a last-gasp five points win in the final minutes of the match.
Both teams needed to win this match to have any chance of making the finals in this year’s Northern Riverina league competition.
The game started as a stalemate with neither side able to post a point for the opening 15 minutes, which was a credit to both teams’ defensive efforts.
Cobar’s Doug North started the match impressively with some devastating runs out of the backline splitting Hillston’s midfield apart.
At the end of the first quarter, Cobar was up by six points.
As the second quarter started, so too did the rain which brought a sloppy element to the game and a change of game tactics.
Craig Curry continued his great presence around the ground and showed why he has been the find of the season for the Blues.
At this point the local crowd was getting rowdy, with the Ward Oval grandstand holding one the biggest crowds of the past two AFL seasons.
Both teams came out firing in the third quarter, especially Cobar’s gun midfield of Corey Slater, Murray Robotham and Daniel Howard, who gave their usual “all”.
Hillston continued to flood the backline nullifying Cobar’s key forwards Terry Pitkin’s and Michael Moritz’s usual dominance of the game and Cobar had to look to their smaller goal kickers, in particular Luke Sheehan, to kick their goals.
The score was 42-all at three-quarter time and the match was shaping up for an epic finish.
The last term was an “off the chart” performance with Cobar getting an early lead thanks to a goal by one of the forwards.
As the game intensified, so did the umpire’s whistle blowing and a number of penalties were awarded, mostly in Hillston’s favour with the Swans kicking three quick goals to put them ahead by 13 points.
A behind goal for the Blues soon made the difference 12 points and then Cobar’s quick man Jake De Jong was awarded a free kick on an impossible angle which he converted to narrow the gap to six.
For the next six minutes the game was tight and, with three minutes left to play, Blues captain/coach Murray Robotham was awarded a free kick straight in front 25 metres out. He played on and kicked the goal but as time was not called back on, the goal was not counted.
On the next attempt he ‘shanked’ it and only slotted a behind and the Swans went on to claim a narrow five point victory.—contributed
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