Another season came to a close on Saturday as Old Scotch took on a finals-bound Uni Blues at K2 Stadium in Camberwell.
The rollers had been out and despite a wet week, the ground was flat and hard, receiving a big tick from the players. Adam Houlihan was back into the side after an injury layoff and in for his debut match was fan favourite Tim 'OMO' Green. The Cardinals were confident that another strong showing from the developing young team could get them over the line against the Uni boys.
Old Scotch made their mark early kicking to the scoreboard end, goals to Hildebrandt and Houlihan after some blistering work through the middle by James Bowden providing the perfect start. Despite the backline having their opponents seemingly covered in the air and on the deck, there was little stopping Uni Blues' Jack Watts, who stepped up with some big marks and goals to put the Uni boys ahead.
The red men responded, however, with Al Pike swooping around onto his pendulum of a left leg and barrelling one home to even the scores. Another goal to Watts up the other end was cancelled out by one just before the quarter-time siren as 'Pins' Perry took a contested mark on the goal line and kicked truly to even the scores on 4.2.26 at the first break.
As the second quarter got underway, it was clear that Uni Blues had upped the ante, desperately trying to take the game away from the Cardinals. The backline held firm under attack, Thompson, Cohen and O'Shannessy particularly active in restricting Blues' forward thrusts. Scott Sherwen was an unfortunate casualty with an injured hand, meaning that Rich Eva was forced to play on the taller Watts, while Sherwen bravely soldiered on in a forward pocket.
Fortunately, poor goalkicking curbed any damage by Uni on the scoreboard and after merely hanging on for most of the quarter, Scotch suddenly found their feet late on. A 50 metre penalty provided an easy set shot goal for the Scotchies, and then in the shadows of half-time, a neat sidestep and goal from Al Pike put the home side back in front. Going into half-time, Scotch held a minor 4 point lead.
As with the second quarter, Uni Blues continued to press for scoreboard dominance, but the resilient Scotch team held on. Adam Houlihan pulled his quad a minute into the quarter and was not seen for the rest of the day. Rowan Nayna was everywhere through the middle of the ground, and Tom Campbell and Tim Green battled valiantly in the ruck. Nevertheless, it was Uni Blues who took the ascendancy on the scoreboard, before long the margin reaching out to 4 goals. Tim Keck received a handball on the run and with a snap across his body and CANNON TOYOTA contender, brought the margin back to 3 goals. As three quarter-time came in, so did the rain, the task of Scotch getting back into the game made that little bit more complicated.
With the final quarter of the year upon us, the Scotchies were determined not to go down without a fight. After having been dominated in the early moments of the past 2 quarters, a good start was necessary and a couple of early thrusts went unrewarded. However, before long James Bowden looped a kick over to Hamish Dick who kicked truly to bring the margin back to two goals. Minutes later, a scrambled kick to 15 metres out was flukishly drop-kicked off the ground from a pack by Nich Hildebrandt for the CANNON TOYOTA GOAL OF THE DAY.
Uni Blues, sensing a late charge, responded with another timely goal, however Scott Sherwen crumbed a marking contest and dished off to Hugo Perry who snapped for another to bring the margin back to one goal. A minute later, a long kick by Rowan Nayna saw the ball trickle over the back of the pack in the goalsquare and kicked through for a goal to even the scores.
With the game now well and truly back up for grabs, it was Uni Blues who stepped up a gear, the next centre clearance resulting in a Uni Blues goal within seconds. Unfortunately, another couple of goals to Uni saw them kick away to a three-goal lead late and despite Mark Tyrell kicking another one for the Cardinals, a final goal by the Blues saw the final margin stay at 19 points.
Nevertheless, the result was still pleasing for the Cardinals, who have seen huge improvement in their playing style and with only 10 players from the round 1 team playing, finished the season well under some duress.
For all the highlights from our last game, tune into the Local Footy Show on Channel 31, 7.30pm Friday night!